


A Jedi Apart

by TardisIsTheOnlyWayToTravel



Series: Jedi Darcy Lewis [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Star Wars Original Trilogy, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: AU, Force Ghosts, Gen, Jedi, Magic, Magic-Users, Parallel Universes, Science going wrong, Sith, Tricksters, ignores Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-05
Updated: 2016-01-12
Packaged: 2018-05-11 22:03:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 23,123
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5643481
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TardisIsTheOnlyWayToTravel/pseuds/TardisIsTheOnlyWayToTravel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Thanks to an experiment gone wrong, Darcy has a mind full of memories that aren't hers... memories that belong to a version of herself from a galaxy far, far away...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Jedi Harris](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/166876) by The Dark Scribbler. 



> This was, in part, inspired by the wonderful _Jedi Harris_ by The Dark Scribbler, which you should definitely check out if you're a Buffy fan.

**Chapter One**

It was to all purposes a normal day in the lab. Today, they were doing Science with a capital S. Since Jane had abandoned the Einstein-Rosen bridge project she’d ended up working with Tony Stark, on a entirely different project that both of them were enthusiastic and somewhat obsessive about.

“Are you sure the ‘opening a portal to another universe’ thing is, you know, safe?” Darcy muttered to Jane.

“Absolutely,” Jane said immediately. Seeing Darcy’s face, she added, “Well, mostly. Say ninety-eight percent.”

“And that other two percent?”

“Is kind of terrified by what we’re about to do,” Jane confessed. She straightened her spine. “But that’s not going to stop me.”

“Should I go somewhere else just in case it all goes wrong?” Darcy asked. Tony overheard.

“Lewis, if something goes wrong, no amount of distance is going to help.”

“Thanks for that reassurance. I feel so much better.”

“Any time.”

So Darcy stayed in the lab as Jane and Tony worked, the two of them getting more and more excited as they got closer to having all the equipment ready.

Darcy, for her part, was a little wary. Not that she wasn’t behind Science or anything, and she trusted Jane – she wasn’t so sure about Tony – but all the same, she had a bad feeling about this.

“Projection field is initialising,” JARVIS reported from the ceiling.

“Right,” said Tony. “This is it. Ready to go, Foster?”

“Hell yes,” said Jane, and pressed the switch.

Afterwards, Darcy was hard pressed to explain exactly what happened. But instead of opening up in the target area, the portal opened up where Darcy was standing – right _through Darcy_.

And suddenly Darcy was still Darcy, but a different Darcy, and her head was full of spaceships and training and languages she’d never spoken, while all around her energy sang – of life, of death, of everything in between. It filled Darcy’s head until she could feel nothing else.

“Shut it down!” she could vaguely hear Tony yelling, his voice full of alarm. “Shut it down _now!_ ”

Darcy could feel the energy flowing through her, surrounding her, connecting her with everything else in the room. And for a moment, she forgot who she was.

“The portal is closing, sir,” JARVIS’ voice said from somewhere far away. And suddenly, the other presence in her head vanished.

Darcy staggered back as her connection to the portal broke. Tony caught her, eyes wide in alarm.

“Whoa! Everything okay, Lewis?”

Darcy put a hand to her head, and groaned. Everything was spinning.

“Oh, by the Force…”

“What’s that, Lewis? Didn’t peg you for a Star Wars nerd.” Tony’s voice was desperately casual, but Darcy could feel his worry.

“What in nine kriffing hells did I ever do to deserve your ineptitude,” Darcy told Tony.

And without another word she passed out.

* * *

When Darcy woke, she knew immediately from the bright lights and general antiseptic smell that she was in the med bay. She stirred experimentally, and was relieved that at least she wasn’t in a bacta tank –

At which point Darcy’s thoughts swirled to a stop as she realised that they weren’t _her_ thoughts. Not exactly, anyway.

Darcy carefully tried to think back to what had happened before she woke up here, but it was difficult: her mind was a muddled mess. Half of her insisted she was Darcy Lewis, Jedi Knight: the other half protested that she was Darcy Lewis, scientist-wrangler and resident of Avengers’ Tower. As Darcy’s head cleared a little, the scientist-wrangler part won.

“What happened?” Darcy wondered aloud, slurring her words a little. There was a gasp of “ _Darcy!_ ” and Darcy turned her head to see a very worried-looking Jane sprawled over a chair by Darcy’s bedside.

“Oh, thank God, you’re awake,” said Jane. She gave off an air of desperate thankfulness that Darcy could feel from here, mixed with worry and guilt. “What do you remember?”

Darcy tried to think back. It had felt like someone had tried to shove a lifetime’s worth of memories inside her head – at the same time as the person whose memories they were had been fighting back. The experience hadn’t been pleasant.

“Portal,” Darcy realised, remembering this morning’s test. Whatever had happened, the experiment had gone horribly wrong.

“That’s right,” said Jane. All the guilt she was feeling rose to the surface. “I’m so sorry, Darcy. Our calibration was slightly off, and the portal opened right through you.”

Darcy thought about that.

“What does that mean?”

“We don’t know,” said Jane, and Darcy could feel her honesty. “The doctor said she wanted to do some more tests once you were conscious. At the moment you seem to be perfectly fine, physically, but there’s no telling what kind of side-effects this incident could cause.”

Darcy was silent for a moment.

“I blame Stark,” she said finally. Jane gave a choked-off laugh, and reached out to squeeze Darcy’s hand.

“I should probably go tell Dr Evans you’re awake,” she said, and let go. Darcy watched her hurry off.

Over the next few hours, the Avengers’ Tower’s in-house doctor ran a battery of tests on Darcy, to see if there was anything abnormal going on. Everything checked out fine, except for one thing.

“We’re seeing some unusual brain activity here,” noted Dr Evans, frowning down at a scan of Darcy’s brain.

“What kind of unusual activity?” Jane asked, before Darcy could.

“I’m not entirely sure.” Dr Evans was still frowning. “Neurology isn’t my speciality, I’m afraid. But certain regions of the brain associated with memory and spatial tasks seem to be more active than they should be.” The doctor looked at Darcy. “Do you feel any different?”

Darcy hesitated. So far she hadn’t disclosed to anyone that she’d woken up with an alternate Darcy Lewis’ memories inside her brain, but no one had asked the right questions until now.

Something in Darcy’s gut told her to keep her new memories secret, at least for the moment.

“No,” she lied. “I mean, I feel a bit shaken up, but otherwise, I don’t feel any different.”

“Hmm.” Dr Evans gave the brain scan one last glance, before looking at Darcy. “Well, it’s probably best if we monitor the situation for a while – if we see any more unusual activity, I would advise sending you to a specialist who could tell you more than I can about what’s going on. But for the moment, we’ll keep you in the medical wing under observation, just make sure there aren’t any other side effects.”

Darcy only nodded. Jane put a hand on her shoulder.

“I’m so sorry,” Jane said again. “Tony and I should have double-checked the calibration before we did the first test. This is all our fault.”

Darcy managed a smile.

“Hey, I’m fine,” she told her friend. “Don’t beat yourself up over it, okay? That’s the last thing I want.”

“Is there anything you need?” asked Jane. “Anything I can bring you?”

“Maybe later,” said Darcy. “Right now, I kind of feel like a nap, if that’s okay with you.” She feigned a yawn.

“Of course,” Jane said at once. “I’ll leave you alone so you can sleep.”

“Thanks,” said Darcy. “Draw the curtains around my bed, will you?”

“Sure,” said Jane, and did so. Darcy found herself all alone, staring at the ceiling, trying to sort out her thoughts.

She’d been in touch with another version of herself, Darcy was certain of that. The new memories in her head were far too detailed and associated with far too much emotion to be something she’d dreamed up. There was just one problem with that, though – the Jedi Knight thing.

Darcy was a bit of a geek, and she’d seen the six Star Wars films a gazillion times, even the prequels, and read a couple of the books. She knew that Star Wars was a fictional universe. So how, in another reality, could her alternate self be a Jedi?

It was an important question, and not an easy one to answer.

But then, Darcy had read a sci-fi story once, in which all fictional stories were real in other universes, and fiction itself was nothing but the presence of other universes making themselves known. Maybe that theory was true, Darcy thought. Maybe – somewhere – the Jedi Order were real, and George Lucas’ famous saga was the imprint of another universe on Darcy’s own. It would solve Darcy’s conundrum, at least.

Unfortunately, Darcy doubted that anyone else would believe her new memories were real, even if she shared the theory that all fiction was a reality somewhere. Jane would be sceptical, but willing to be convinced; Tony would laugh in Darcy’s face, and possibly ask Dr Evans to do some more tests to make sure Darcy hadn’t had some screws knocked loose somewhere. Darcy doubted that anyone else would be any more willing to believe her. Which meant that somehow, Darcy needed to find proof.

Darcy’s alternate self had been just as tech-savvy as Darcy herself was, and Darcy now had the memories of how to construct all kinds of devices that were way beyond Earth’s current capabilities. Maybe she could simplify them a bit, and draw up some blueprints to show Tony… which might convince him she’d been in contact with another version of herself, but wouldn’t sell the Jedi idea at all.

Darcy closed her eyes for a moment, let herself become immersed in the Force, the way her other self had been trained to do. It was difficult for Darcy, who had never been trained to clear and focus her mind the way the other Darcy had. Nonetheless, she finally managed it. Drawing on the Force, Darcy reached out to the nearest object, and _lifted_.

Grunting with the effort that took, Darcy opened her eyes just in time to see the clipboard by her bed hover for a second, before falling to the floor with a clatter.

There was a long silence as Darcy digested the fact that yes, she’d just levitated an object using the Force.

“This,” Darcy muttered, “is going to take _forever_.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

It was another day before Darcy was allowed to leave the medical wing, by which point she was profoundly grateful to be allowed to leave. There hadn’t been much for her to do, besides browse the internet on her laptop (which Jane had brought down to the medical wing for her), and Darcy had been bored as anything.

She’d tried to emulate her alternate self by doing her best to meditate, which came more easily than Darcy had expected, but was still difficult.  Darcy kept at it anyway. A plan had formed inside her mind, based on her other self’s experiences. After all, if her alternate self could become a Jedi, why couldn’t Darcy? Sure, she didn’t exactly have a teacher, but she had the memories to guide her – all the times Master Luke had given her training and advice (and wasn’t that trippy, knowing that Darcy’s other self had been trained by _Luke Skywalker_ himself) were there, inside her head, waiting for Darcy to draw on them.

So, as soon as Darcy was allowed to leave the medical wing, she put her plan into action.

It started, much to Darcy’s resignation, with exercise.

Darcy had never been that fond of exercise – she had been a firm believer that the only reason for someone to go running was if they were being chased – but the other Darcy’s memories had changed all that. Sure, the Jedi had faster reflexes than most people, that split-second of precognition and constant awareness of everything around them assisting them, but those reflexes didn’t do squat if the muscles weren’t trained to respond properly. To the Jedi, maintaining a healthy mind and a strong connection with the Force was helped by maintaining a healthy body, and if Darcy wanted to pull off some of the amazing feats she’d seen in the movies – and her alternate self’s memories – then she needed to train herself physically as well as mentally.

So Darcy went jogging every morning, and visited the Tower gym every day, building up the strength, coordination and stamina she was going to need, if her plan was going to come to fruition.

 Jane didn’t understand it.

“But Darcy, you hate exercise.” Jane had tried, in the past, to get Darcy to exercise with her in the gym, only to have Darcy adamantly refuse. It had been a source of some frustration to Jane.

Darcy paused, and put down the weights she was lifting.

“I guess the whole portal thing was a wake-up call,” she said, choosing her words carefully.

Jane immediately looked stricken, and Darcy hurried to reassure her.

“Not in a bad way! But like, maybe if I’d been able to move faster, I could have gotten out of the way before the portal opened, or something. Besides, New York is a lot more dangerous than it used to be, with aliens and supervillains and stuff. Who knows when I might need to be able to run away fast?”

“Darcy.” Jane was looking sad and guilty again. Darcy put up a hand to forestall her.

“Don’t tell me again that you’re sorry, Jane. I know you and Tony didn’t mean to do it. Just be more careful next time. That’s all that matters.”

Jane nodded resolutely.

“I promise we will be, Darcy. Tony’s postponed all work on that project, for now.”

So yeah, there was the exercise, to begin with. But that wasn’t where Darcy’s self-training regime ended, of course. Besides meditating whenever she could, Darcy began concentrating on feeling the Force around her, trying to be always aware of what was happening nearby.

In the end, it took months before Darcy a) considered herself at the Jedi standard of fitness, and b) able to maintain a constant level of situational awareness. But eventually she got there.

It was time to begin phase two of her training.

Most of the Avengers tended to use the gym earlier in the day, when Darcy was working, wit the exception of Captain America, who often used the gym late at night when he couldn’t sleep. So Darcy avoided the gym during those times, preferring to use it during the early evening, when there was a smattering of Stark Industries employees using it, but no one else.

One evening, after going through her usual exercise routine, Darcy approached the cabinet where she knew the wooden kendo swords were stored. Darcy knew that Romanov and Barton sometimes used them, but otherwise, the swords were rarely used.

Darcy opened the cabinet, and after a moment’s hesitation, selected one of the swords. It was heavy in her hands, but when she moved, the sword felt like an extension of her arm.

Smiling a little, Darcy took up a position in the middle of the kendo practice floor, and began moving through the lightsaber forms she knew. Her movements were hesitant and unpracticed, her muscles unused to making them, but Darcy knew that if she persisted, she could be just as good as her alternate self had been.

For three days, Darcy practiced her lightsaber moves with the kendo swords. Then, on the fourth day –

“Your movements are all wrong.”

Darcy didn’t jump at the sound of Romanov’s voice, even though the assassin’s approach had been silent. Instead, Darcy lowered her sword, and turned to smile at the other woman.

“No they’re not.”

Romanov’s eyebrows rose.

“You do realise I’ve been practicing kendo for years?”

“I’m sure you have,” Darcy agreed, still smiling. “But what I’m doing isn’t kendo.”

Romanov’s eyes narrowed.

“Go through that last form exercise again.”

Darcy obliged, going carefully through all the movements, making sure to get them all right. Romanov watched her like a hawk, expression considering. When she was finished Darcy walked over to the cabinet, and put the sword away.

She turned back to see that Romanov was still watching her with that considering expression. Darcy should have been feeling wary, concerned at being caught out, but the Force whispered to her that with this at least, Romanov could be trusted.

“Those exercises are meant for something other than a _bokken_ ,” said Romanov finally. “Something sharper and stronger.”

“You’re not wrong,” said Darcy. “And if I can convince Tony to fund me, I’ll eventually be building one.”

Romanov’s eyebrows rose.

“It’s not a standard sword, is it?”

“Comparing it to a standard sword is like comparing the Iron Man armour to something from the middle ages,” said Darcy. “There’s a resemblance, but…” she shrugged. “The resemblance only goes so far.”

Romanov watched Darcy for a moment longer.

“You’re a strange one,” she said finally. “How did you know I was approaching you, earlier? You weren’t startled at all.”

Darcy grinned, and jabbed a thumb at the ceiling.

“Same way as I know Barton’s watching me from the air ducts right now,” she said easily, and laughed at the muffled curse that came from the nearest air vent.

Romanov looked like Darcy had just gone up in her estimation.

“When you know how to handle your weapon, come to me,” she said, and then, “It was nice meeting you, Darcy.”

Darcy didn’t ask how Romanov knew her name. She just smiled, and said, “I’ll take you up on that.”

* * *

Darcy sat on her bed, staring at the apple resting on her desk. She immersed herself in the Force, allowing her mind to become calm and still, devoid of everything but a single thought – the levitation of the apple.

The apple rose smoothly into the air, rotating slightly, and shot across the room to land in Darcy’s outstretched hand.

Darcy took a bite out of the apple, feeling thoughtful. She was getting better and better at moving objects with her mind, and she had grown confident in the lightsaber exercises she’d been practicing. She was making progress, Darcy had to admit that, but it wasn’t enough.

She needed help.

Before the portal incident, Darcy probably would have been too stubborn and too proud to ask for help in this, but now… well, she was a Jedi-in-training, wasn’t she? Too much pride was as bad as anger when it came to the Dark Side: Darcy knew that all too well. It had been Anakin Skywalker’s pride and inflated opinion of himself that had led to his anger and resentment, as much as anything had, and that anger and resentment had led him straight to the Dark Side. In Darcy’s opinion, Darth Sidious promising to help save Padme’s life had really just been the last straw. Anakin had been tainted by the Dark Side long before he’d become Darth Vader. The Jedi Masters had all seen it, with the possible exception of Obi-Wan Kenobi: they just hadn’t known how to deal with it.

Darcy shook her head, redirecting her thoughts away from Darth Vader, and the old Jedi Order. Anyway, the point was, Darcy was less proud and inflexible than she’d been only a few months earlier, and was willing to ask for help when she needed it. It was time to go back to Romanov – and, if he was agreeable, Barton.

Darcy knew that the pair of them tended to be in the gym at about ten in the morning, assuming that they didn’t have any other engagements. Darcy was generally free on weekends, and so the next Saturday morning Darcy dressed in a loose shirt and yoga pants, and went downstairs to the Tower gym.

She found Romanov and Barton sparring with each other on the mats, although as Darcy approached Romanov flipped Barton onto his back, and turned to face Darcy.

“Darcy,” she said. “Come to take me up on my offer?”

“Yup,” said Darcy, popping the ‘P’. “It’s time.”

Romanov smiled. It was a small, barely-there smile.

“I’ll be on the range,” said Barton, rolling nimbly to his feet. “Later, Nat.”

“Later,” Romanov agreed, but her eyes were on Darcy.

Together, Darcy and Romanov walked over to the sword cabinet, each of them selecting a sword. Darcy moved out into the middle of the floor, sword lowered, and waited for Romanov to join her. Romanov was shorter than Darcy, but all muscle, and she was likely to be more flexible and quicker on her feet than Darcy was.

“Well then,” said Romanov. She was still wearing the small smile. “Shall we?”

“Let’s,” said Darcy, and lunged.

Within minutes, Darcy was feeling the difference between going through the movements of the different lightsaber forms, and actually _using_ them. Darcy’s arms were beginning to ache as the wooden swords clashed, barely able to fend Romanov off. Darcy’s only advantage was that while Romanov was fast, Darcy was faster, and able to anticipate each and every movement Romanov made, blocking them just in time.

Finally, Darcy knew she couldn’t continue.

“Stop!” she called out, and Romanov immediately fell still, her sword still raised.

Darcy crouched, placed her sword down on the floor, before flopping down onto the floor herself.

“You are _really_ good,” Darcy told Romanov from her seat on the floor.

“So are you,” said Romanov matter-of-factly. “You need to build up your strength, obviously, but you seem to have a good handle on those moves of yours.”

Darcy smiled at the compliment.

“Same time tomorrow?” Romanov asked, still standing with the sword in her hands.

“Yeah,” said Darcy happily. “That would be great.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

Eventually, Darcy went to Tony.

“So,” said Darcy, and stopped.

“So?” Tony echoed, raising his eyebrows. “What’s up, Lewis?”

“You fund science projects, sometimes.”

“That I do.” Tony’s expression was inquiring, and he was radiating curiosity and just a hint of caution.

“I have a science project,” Darcy began. “The results would never be widely-applicable, but would be useful for a small group of exceptional people.”

Tony looked at her, then frowned.

“You’re not talking about the Avengers.”

“No.” Darcy shook her head. “I’m not. I haven’t found the people I’m looking for yet – I’m not ready – but this project is the next stage in my plan.”

“Plan?” Tony repeated. “What plan?”

“That would be telling,” said Darcy, but with a smile to take away any sting.

Tony gave her a long look.

“Okay, I’ll bite. What’s the science project?”

Darcy reached out to the Force to reassure herself that this was the right path. She liked Tony, she really did, but there was a thread of darkness running through him, deep and visceral, that influenced his actions. Yes, Tony did a lot of good things, but some of them came from a very bad place. Darcy didn’t need to ask what that place was: everyone knew about Tony’s three months in Afghanistan. Darcy didn’t know the details, but she didn’t need to. Whatever had forged Tony into who he was now, as brilliant as he’d ever been but with a core of steel at his heart, it hadn’t been good.

Right now, however, the Force was encouraging Darcy’s current course of action, so with a deep breath, Darcy showed Tony the blueprints she’d drawn up.

Tony looked through them.

“A power cell?” he said absently, looking at the first one. Then he took a closer look. “Wait, this is – Lewis, did you _design_ this?”

“More or less,” said Darcy, but Tony looked up at her then, his eyes serious.

“Lewis. I need to know. Is this your own design?”

Darcy winced.

“Uh… remember when you accidentally opened that portal through me?”

Tony stiffened.

“If this is some kind of attempt at emotional blackmail–”

“Of course not!” Darcy hurried to assure him, feeling indignant. “Just shut up and listen for a second.”

“Okay, I’m listening.” And Tony was, giving her his complete and full attention, which would be a little unnerving if Darcy didn’t remember Master Luke doing exactly the same thing, with far more effect.

“Well… when the portal opened, it connected me to another version of me. A version of me from a parallel world.”

“What?” Tony looked like all the breath had been knocked out of him. “And you didn’t _say_ anything?”

“I was fine!” Darcy defended herself. “I just have, like, a bunch of new memories now, which belonged to my alternate self.”

Tony took a deep breath, clearly calming himself. Then he frowned again.

“Wait. Are you telling me your alternate self was the one who designed this power cell?”

“ _No!_ Stop interrupting already! Other me was from a much more technologically advanced world, and this power cell was actually pretty old-fashioned by their standards. Its patent had expired a long time ago, so lots of people used it.”

Tony was staring at her.

“So basically, you reinvented this power cell from your other self’s memories?”

“I had to make a few changes, and this version is a lot less efficient, but yeah,” Darcy said.

Tony kept staring at her.

“Okay,” he said finally. “Let me look at the rest of these blueprints.”

Darcy fell silent again as Tony looked through the rest of the blueprints. It didn’t take him long to catch on.

“Holy shit, Lewis, are these for a _lightsaber?_ Your other self’s society had _lightsabers?_ ”

“Not just lightsabers,” said Darcy. “Jedi.”

Tony gave her a suspicious look, then glanced back down at the blueprints.

“Jedi,” he said.

“Yes.”

“Like in Star Wars.”

“My alternate self was a Jedi Knight trained by Luke Skywalker,” said Darcy, sensing that it was time to come clean. “And with her memories I’ve been training to become one myself.”

“This is ridiculous,” said Tony. “You can’t possibly expect me to believe –”

Darcy held out her hand, and one of Tony’s wrenches came spinning through the air towards her. Darcy caught it.

Tony stared again.

“Like I said, I’ve been training myself,” Darcy told him, as serious as she ever got. “The Force is strong with me.”

Tony blinked several times.

“You’re a Jedi.”

“Yup.”

Tony shook his head.

“I think I need a drink. Come on, Lewis. Let’s go upstairs, and I can fix myself a scotch, and you can tell me more about these Jedi powers of yours.”

Darcy followed him upstairs to the penthouse floor, where true to his word, Tony poured himself a glass of scotch, before sitting down and staring at Darcy expectantly.

Starting at the beginning, Darcy explained the effects the portal had had on her, and began detailing the steps she’d been taking to train herself as a Jedi. It took a while, and by the time she was done, Tony was staring at her like he’d never seen her before.

“So that’s why I want the funding to build a lightsaber,” said Darcy quietly.

“You’re a _Jedi_ ,” said Tony. “Do you have any idea how many millions of people would love to be you, right now?”

A smile touched Darcy’s lips, because she had a pretty good idea.

“Look,” said Tony, “I’ll give you the money you need. But do me a favour? Patent that power cell, and lease the design to Stark Industries.”

Darcy stared at him.

“Really?”

“Really,” said Tony. “It’s no arc reactor, but it’s cheaper, and a hell of a lot better than everything else on the market.”

“I have no idea how to patent anything,” Darcy confessed.

“I’ll help you,” Tony promised. There was something wistful in his expression. “Hey. You can tell when someone’s strong in the Force, right?”

“Right.” Darcy had an uneasy feeling she knew where he was going with this.

“What about me?” Tony gestured. “Do I have what it takes to be a Jedi?”

Darcy returned his stare with one of her own.

“I don’t know,” she said. “Do you think you could live by the Jedi Code?”

“You mean no emotion, no attachments, blah blah blah?” Tony gave a short laugh. It was only a little bitter. “Uh, in case you hadn’t noticed, I’m not really the type. Hadn’t thought you were, either.”

Darcy shrugged.

“Sometimes stuff happens, and people change. Sharing headspace with an actual Jedi Knight did that for me. Besides, I’ll be passing on the values of the new Jedi Order, not the old one.”

“The new Jedi Order?” Tony raised an eyebrow.

“Master Luke’s Jedi Order,” Darcy explained. “As opposed to the old Jedi Order, which came before the Empire.”

“Right. I get it.” Tony fell into contemplative silence for a moment. “So. The whole ‘patent your power cell and lease it to SI’ thing. You in?”

Darcy closed her eyes for the moment. The Force sang.

“Yeah,” said Darcy, smiling. “I’m in.”

“Great,” said Tony, and his grin was genuine.

* * *

The hardest part of building Darcy’s new lightsaber was finding the gem she needed. With Tony’s help, Darcy was able to buy or build the other parts, but the gem was the sticking point. Each lightsaber had a gem in the hilt: large, and attuned to the resonance of the Force. Without the gem, Darcy’s new lightsaber simply wouldn’t work.

So, in her free time, Darcy took to visiting jewellers, looking at raw gems and semi-precious stones that might meet her specifications, with a black Amex card in hand that was on loan from Tony. Darcy looked at so many jewels, but they were always either too small, or not well enough attuned to the Force to be viable.

“Cheer up, Lewis, you’ll find what you’re looking for sooner or later,” said Tony, when Darcy was feeling a little down about the whole thing.

“I know,” Darcy said. The Force was whispering to her, _Not yet,_ and Darcy knew to trust in the Force. She sighed. “The Force says that it isn’t time for me to find it yet.”

“Well, you know, trust in the Force, and all that jazz,” said Tony. “I mean, you’re a Jedi Knight. Right?”

“Maybe that’s the problem,” Darcy mused.

“What? What’s a problem?”

“Maybe I’m not really a Jedi Knight, yet,” Darcy explained. “I’ve never undergone any kind of trial to prove myself, or anything. Maybe the Force is telling me that I’m not ready to be a Jedi Knight.”

Tony shrugged.

“Could be. You’d know better than I would.”

Darcy wasn’t sure about that: Tony was actually fairly strong in the Force, for all that he’d never been trained. But she didn’t say so. That thread of darkness inside Tony still worried her.

So Darcy fell silent, and listened to Tony ramble on about whatever came into his head. In it’s own way, the rambling was soothing.

Darcy was certain she’d become a Jedi Knight eventually. The only question was _when._


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

“Miss Lewis, I hesitate to alarm you, but there has been a security breach. Sir advises that you remain in your quarters until the threat has passed.”

At the sound of the polite British voice, Darcy glanced up at the ceiling, tensing as she absorbed JARVIS’ words.

“A security breach?”

Darcy slammed her laptop shut, leaping off the bed and scrambling for the kendo sword she had resting by her bed. Darcy’s instincts all told her to keep a weapon close to hand, these days, and Tony hadn’t minded permanently loaning her one of the swords. Darcy had her tazer, of course, but a tazer was all point-and-shoot, lacking the finesse of a sword.

“Where, JARVIS?”

“In the lobby,” JARVIS said reluctantly. “But I would not recommend–”

Darcy didn’t hear what else he had to say. She was already striding from her rooms, heading straight for the elevator.

“JARVIS, can you make sure the elevator doesn’t stop at any other floors before it reaches the lobby?” Darcy asked, as the elevator doors opened.

“Miss Lewis, this is hardly a wise course of action,” the AI protested.

Darcy fixed the elevator security camera with a look.

“Very well.” JARVIS gave in.

It took a couple of minutes for the elevator to reach the lobby, during which time Darcy questioned him about the security breach. Apparently some woman had walked into the lobby and begun firing green energy at the guards, while calling for the Avengers to come down and face her.

“Who’s down there dealing with her?” Darcy asked.

“Sir, Mr Barton, Ms Romanov and Captain Rogers are all on the scene.”

“Not the Hulk?”

“Sir thought it best to keep him in reserve, as it were,” JARVIS responded.

“Gotcha,” said Darcy, just as the elevator doors opened. She stepped out into the lobby.

The assembled Avengers were standing in front of a tall, red-headed woman in a long flowing dress. Her hands were glowing green, and a mocking smile was on her face.

“Really? You want to test that?” Tony said, his voice distorted through the Iron Man armour.

“Oh, I truly do,” said the woman. Darcy reached out with the Force to get a read on her. The woman was radiating amusement and curiosity, and no small amount of challenge.

As though the woman had felt Darcy’s probe, her gaze suddenly shifted, past Iron Man, to the back of the lobby, where Darcy was standing. Their eyes met.

“Well, well, what have we here?” the woman asked, grin spreading. The Avengers followed her gaze.

“Dammit, Lewis! I told you to stay upstairs!” Tony’s exasperation was audible even through the armour’s distortion.

“You _are_ interesting,” mused the Avengers’ current adversary, never taking her eyes off Darcy. Darcy didn’t look away. “You’re different, somehow, aren’t you? There’s something there, that I can almost put my finger on…” The woman paused for a moment, studying Darcy, before shaking her head. “Well, I came here to test the Avengers, but I think… yes. I think I’ll test you too.”

“She’s a civilian, she has no part in this–” Captain America began, at the same time as Tony said, “Leave her out of this –”

Barton raised his bow.

But all of them were too late. The woman grinned, and raised a glowing green hand to snap her fingers.

And then they were all somewhere else. Their foe was nowhere to be seen.

“Where’d she go? And where are we?” asked Barton, staring around, bowstring taut.

Darcy was too busy reeling at what was going on in the Force. Everything in the Force felt _wrong_ , distorted, like Darcy was surrounded by a world of wrongness. Only the Avengers felt right, normal.

Shaking off her disorientation Darcy looked around, and froze as she recognised the shiny black floors and the grey corridors with their rectangular doorways.

“ _Sithspit_.”

“Miss Lewis?” Captain America looked at her in inquiry. “Do you know where we are?”

Darcy swallowed the impulse to scream, and managed to speak almost calmly.

“I think… we’re either on the Death Star, or inside an Imperial Star Destroyer.”

“Oh, crap,” said Tony, while Barton and Romanov stared incredulously.

“Wait, the Death Star? That’s in Star Wars,” said Barton.

“Star Wars?” Captain America repeated, sounding confused.

“What, that’s not on your list?” asked Tony. “That’s it, when we get back, obligatory team movie marathon.”

“But Star Wars isn’t real,” said Romanov, frowning. “It’s a movie.”

“We don’t have time for me to explain,” said Darcy. The others looked surprised by the sudden command in her voice. “We need to get out of here.”

“What, afraid we might run into Darth Vader?” Barton’s face said, clearly, that he didn’t believe a word of what was going on.

But Darcy could feel a presence approaching, a presence that was both strangely familiar and yet steeped in darkness. She could also faintly hear the sound of booted footsteps marching in time.

“Darcy’s right, we don’t have time for this,” said Tony. His helmet turned to look at Darcy. “Lewis. You’re the expert here. What do we do?”

“Right now, we need to _run_ ,” said Darcy. “Come on!”

The others were still looking confused and disbelieving, aside from Tony, but they finally started to move.

Just as a group of stormtroopers rounded the corner of the hallway, the dark presence striding in front of them.

There was a moment where both groups stared at each other, the Avengers and Darcy at one end of the corridor, the stormtroopers and their leader at the other. Darcy took a second to look at what was undoubtedly a Sith – presence steeped in the Dark Side, cloaked, wearing black clothing, lightsaber hanging at their hip – and yelled, “ _Run!_ ”

The Sith’s head snapped towards her, and Darcy felt their astonishment in the Force. A second later a voice identical to Darcy’s own demanded, “What in nine kriffing _hells?_ ”

Pure shock blasted through Darcy.

“Oh, crap,” said Tony a second time, and he gave Darcy a shove. “ _Move_ , Lewis!”

“We can take them,” Captain America started to say, but Tony grabbed his arm with an urgent, “No we can’t!”

“I want them taken alive,” ordered the Sith, once again in Darcy’s own voice.

“Guys, time to run!” said Tony.

“But–” Captain America began.

The stormtroopers raised their blasters, and began to fire. Captain America immediately brought his shield up to stop the blaster bolts, but the others didn’t have that defence.

Barton and Romanov turned and began running for the other end of the corridor, Barton cursing as he went.

Darcy sent one last, incredulous look towards the Sith, and joined them.

She could hear Iron Man’s repulsors firing behind her, but she didn’t look back.

She hit the end of the corridor and ducked through the doorway there into a new corridor, and took cover next to Barton and Romanov.

“We’re in Star Wars,” said Barton, finally sounding like he believed it.

Romanov pinned Darcy with her gaze.

“Talk,” she ordered.

“When Jane and Tony opened the portal through me several months ago, I was briefly connected to a version of myself in a parallel universe where Star Wars was real,” Darcy said quickly.

There was an explosion in the corridor they’d just left. Darcy kept on talking.

“I found myself with the memories of a Jedi Knight, and started training myself to become one.”

“That’s why you were training with the _bokken_ ,” said Romanov.

Darcy gave a short nod.

“Closest thing I had to a lightsaber.”

Captain America jumped through the doorway, and joined Darcy and the others.

“Will someone please explain what’s going on?” he asked. His voice was impatient, and from the scowl on his face, the Sith had kind of pissed him off.

“No time,” said Romanov. She looked at Darcy. “Darcy. Who was that back there?”

Darcy swallowed.

“I think… I think that was me.”

“You,” said Barton. He looked Darcy up and down. “Personally, I don’t see it.”

“No one asked you,” Darcy snapped.

“I don’t understand any of this,” said Captain America. “How can she be you?”

“I think we’re in a universe parallel to our own, where things are a bit different, but some things are the same,” Darcy explained. “The woman back there is a Sith Lord, which means she has, uh, magic-like powers. Evil ones.”

Captain America nodded, like that part he could understand.

“Do you –”

Tony’s Iron Man armour went crashing through the doorway and into the far wall of their current corridor. Darcy cursed as she felt the Sith’s presence draw closer.

“She’s coming!”

“Can you fight her?” Romanov asked urgently. Darcy shook her head.

“I don’t even have a lightsaber! No, I can’t fight her!”

“I’ll hold her off,” said Tony. There was a worrying electrical crackle to his voice through the armour. “Fly, you fools!”

“Did you just–” Barton began, blinking.

“Clint, not now!” Romanov barked. “Come on! Captain!”

She tugged at Darcy’s arm, and the four of them ran.

Whether it was the Death Star or a Star Destroyer, there were a lot of corridors.

“We can’t leave him!” Darcy panted. “It’s not right, and anyway think what they could do with the armour!”

“Tony’s suits have a self-destruct protocol,” Romanov replied as she ran. “If they somehow manage to get him out of it, JARVIS’ll blow the suit.”

“Miss Lewis is right. I’m not leaving one of my people to the mercies of the enemy,” said Captain America. Darcy could tell from his tone of voice that he meant it.

Romanov obviously did too, because she stopped where she was. The others stopped as well, breathing heavily from their exertion.

“Really? Then what’s your plan, Captain?” She raised her eyebrows at him.

“That woman said she wants us alive,” said Captain America. “If we let them take us–”

“Come _on_ ,” said Barton. “That’s your plan?”

“They don’t know what we’re capable of,” said Captain America.

“The reverse also applies,” said Romanov, but she looked considering.

“Don’t tell me you’re thinking about it,” said Barton.

Romanov shrugged a little, and quirked her mouth.

“Dammit, Nat!”

“Darcy.” Romanov turned to her. “We need you to not get captured. Can you do that?”

_I can try_ , Darcy was about to say, before a memory flashed into her head: Master Luke, obviously impersonating someone as he said, “Do or do not, there is no ‘try’,” with that tiny smile he sometimes got when he was feeling amused by something but didn’t want to let on what he was amused about. The memory was there and gone again in an instant, but a funny kind of pain was left behind in Darcy’s heart.

“I can,” Darcy said, pushing the feeling aside.

“We need to get you out of this maze and find somewhere you can stay hidden,” Captain America said.

Barton pointed to the ceiling, with an expression that said that the others were missing the obvious.

“Air vents.”

“Awesome,” said Darcy, looking up at the nearest vent. She raised a hand, and immersed herself in the Force, until she was nothing but a single thought.

_Move_.

With a squeal of metal, the grille across the air vent came free, and Darcy lowered it to the floor.

“I can boost you–” Captain America started to say, but Darcy gave a Force-enhanced leap and scrambled into the air duct.

“That works too,” Captain America said, sounding taken-aback.

“What the actual fuck,” Barton blurted, staring.

Darcy allowed herself a flicker of a grin.

“Told you I was a Jedi,” she said, before raising a hand, pulling the grille of the air vent up through the air and back into place. Darkness settled around her, the only light coming from the grille in the bottom of the vent.

“Come on,” said Romanov’s voice. “We can’t be caught anywhere near here.”

Darcy heard the Avengers’ footsteps grow quieter and quieter, as their presence in the Force receded. A moment later, and the corridor below Darcy was empty.

Darcy took a deep breath and closed her eyes, immersing herself in the Force, released her emotions into it as much as was possible. Then – once her mind was clear and still – she started to move, crawling on her hands and knees down the air duct.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

Darcy crept through the air ducts for some time. Every now and again she heard the sound of marching footsteps passing underneath her, and stopped, barely breathing; but always the footsteps kept on going without stopping, leaving Darcy to heave a sigh of relief, and keep crawling.

But she could sense the Sith growing closer and closer, following Darcy’s own presence in the Force. And no matter how fast Darcy crawled through the vents, the Sith was always moving faster.

Finally, Darcy froze as the sound of a single set of footsteps stopped just beneath the nearest air vent, about a foot away from where Darcy was.

“Come out, come out, wherever you are,” said the Sith.

Darcy knew that it was possible to hide your Force signature, but it wasn’t something she’d ever been taught. Right now, the Sith knew exactly where she was, and there was nothing she could do about it. She’d hoped the Sith would be too distracted by capturing the Avengers to come after her, but apparently not.

But then, Darcy wouldn’t have been, either. Not when someone was running around wearing her face.

“No?” asked the Sith. “In that case–” She drew her lightsaber, and Darcy had a split-second of warning to scrabble backwards before a huge chunk of the air duct in front of her was bisected by a humming red blade.

The chunk of air duct fell to the floor, leaving an open hole in front of Darcy. The Sith looked up through it, her face hidden by the hood of her cloak. Darcy stared back.

“Take off your hood,” Darcy said finally, when the Sith did nothing but look at her.

The lightsaber blade retracted, and was replaced on the Sith’s belt. The Sith raised two hands, and put back her hood so that Darcy could see her face.

It was Darcy’s own face, a little thinner than what she saw in the mirror every morning, maybe. The Sith’s hair was braided and pulled back in a bun at the back of her head, so that there was no hair hanging forward to obscure Darcy’s view.

The only real difference between Darcy’s face and this one was the sickly yellow irises of the Sith’s eyes, ringed with crimson.

“I always hated tying my hair back,” said Darcy. “Couldn’t stand the feeling. Doesn’t that, you know, bug you?”

Sith Darcy smiled. It was a lazy, vaguely predatory expression.

“No real warrior lets their hair get in the way,” Sith Darcy said. “What are you? No mere clone would have my Force signature – hideously Light Sided though yours is. Tell me, and perhaps I will spare your friends.”

“Jeez, all you had to do was ask, dude,” said Darcy. Her mouth was running on autopilot as she tried to think of a way out of the situation. “Didn’t anyone ever teach you that you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar?”

For half a second, Sith Darcy looked baffled, before she scowled.

“You try my patience,” she said. And then, as though to underscore that this really was Darcy, Sith Darcy ruined the intimidation factor of her previous statement by adding, “And why would I want to catch flies?”

“Yeah, I always asked that, too,” said Darcy. “What I mean is, didn’t anyone ever teach you that when you want something, you should try being nice before you get all intimidating?”

Sith Darcy stared at Darcy.

“No,” she said, her voice as dry as dust. “Somehow, in my training as a Sith, that never came up.”

“You mean you weren’t a Jedi first?” Darcy latched on to Sith Darcy’s comment as she realised what it meant.

Sith Darcy glared as she realised that she’d just let slip information about herself, without gaining any information of her own.

“ _You will tell me what you are!”_ The shout was infused with the power of a Force command.

Darcy resisted it easily.

“Chill. Anyone ever tell you that you have anger management issues?”

Sith Darcy raised her hand, as though to choke the information out of Darcy using the Force.

“I’m you,” Darcy said quickly, before Sith Darcy could pull a Vader. “Like, actually you. From another universe. My friends are from there too.”

It was dangerous information to give a Sith, but Darcy didn’t have all that much choice right now. Her opponent was armed with a lightsaber, where all Darcy had was the wooden sword she’d been dragging through the air ducts with her – plus they were on some kind of ship full of soldiers that was probably controlled by Sith Darcy. Right now, Sith Darcy definitely had the advantage.

Sith Darcy blinked up at Darcy, like she hadn’t expected that one.

“You’re an alternate-universe version of me,” she said flatly.

“Yup.” Darcy watched her warily.

Sith Darcy snorted.

“That’s a new one.” She tilted her head. “But I sense that there is no deceit in your words.” She was quiet for a moment. “Fascinating.”

Then she whipped her arm sideways, and the piece of air duct that Darcy was crouched in ripped free of the ceiling and crashed to the floor. Darcy managed to land on her feet, but barely.

There was the sound of a lightsaber igniting, and Darcy looked up to find Sith Darcy’s blade humming only inches from her throat. Darcy immersed herself in the Force, doing her best to release her fear into it.

“You will come with me,” said Sith Darcy. “I’m sure you don’t need me to spell out what will happen if you don’t.”

“I get the picture,” Darcy’s eyes remained on the lightsaber blade. “You know, we were never actually introduced. You have a Sith name, or what?”

Sith Darcy smiled again.

“I am Darth Fulmineus,” she said, and there was satisfaction and pride in her voice.

“I’ve got to admit, that’s a pretty cool name,” Darcy admitted.

“It’s what?” Fulmineus looked at Darcy sharply.

“Cool. Stylish,” Darcy translated in a hurry. Fulmineus nodded, appeased.

“It is,” she said, her smile reappearing.

“So who’s your master?” Darcy asked. “I mean, you have one, right?”

A flicker of something that might have been resentment crossed Fulmineus’ face.

“Emperor Vader is my master.”

Darcy gaped a bit.

“This surprises you,” Fulmineus observed. She sounded a little suspicious. “It was not so in your universe?”

“Darth Vader doesn’t exist in my universe,” said Darcy. “Neither do the Jedi, or the Sith.”

Fulmineus narrowed her eyes.

“And yet you have had training in the ways of the Force.”

Darcy shrugged a little, horribly aware of the lightsaber blade at her throat.

“I got the memories of someone from a universe where the Jedi do exist,” she said. “The rest I did myself.”

“You trained yourself?” Fulmineus gave a sneer. “No wonder you are so weak.”

“Well…” Darcy said – and then brought a section of air duct down over Fulmineus’ head.

Fulmineus deflected it with an outflung hand.

“Not bad,” she said. “But not good enough. Come with me.”

Darcy knew that she was beaten. Fulmineus gestured for Darcy to walk in front of her, and Darcy reluctantly did so. The Sith never de-activated her lightsaber, keeping it humming somewhere near Darcy’s right ear.

Darcy did her best to release her fear and apprehension into the Force as she was escorted down to the detention block, but she was feeling a lot of fear, and not all of it was going away.

_Fear is the path to the Dark Side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering,_ Darcy recited inside her head. The presence of Fulmineus showed Darcy all too clearly what could happen, if Darcy let the fear and anger take over. Darcy took a deep breath, and mentally recited the Litany Against Fear. She’d learned it by heart when she was fifteen, and ever since then, when she was afraid, she went over it in her head. It usually helped.

_I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain._

Darcy’s fear subsided, and Darcy immersed herself in the Force until she was nothing but calm.

Fulmineus paused by a closed doorway and pressed a button on the door panel. The door slid open, and Fulmineus shoved Darcy through.

Inside were Barton and Romanov, both without their weapons. Romanov’s face was blank as she looked at Darcy.

“She came after me,” said Darcy. “Sorry.”

“It’s not every day I meet my alternate-universe self,” said Fulmineus. “Colour me curious.” She looked at the three of them with a contemplative air. “The question is: what to do with you?”

Fulmineus glanced at Barton and Romanov.

“I have no use for you two, but you…” She looked at Darcy. “You could be very useful.”

“No thanks,” said Darcy.

But Fulmineus only smiled, and deactivated her lightsaber, clipping it back on her belt.

“Think about it,” she said, her voice soft and cajoling. “Together we could take on Vader, and rule the galaxy. Leave your Jedi roots behind. They’re not real, after all – only memories from a pathetic Jedi somewhere in another universe. Turn to the Dark Side, and you will have all the power you could desire.”

“Who says I want power?” Darcy asked. Fulmineus laughed.

“Who doesn’t?” she asked. “Power is only freedom by another name. The freedom to choose, the power to eliminate anyone who stands in the way of your choices, so that you might do whatever you want… tell me that doesn’t sound appealing.”

The fact was, to some degree it _did_ sound appealing. Not the ‘ruling over others’ part – Darcy was more a live and let live kind of person – but the ability to make her own choices without anyone nixing them, and to have no obligations but the ones she had chosen for herself, was kind of a tempting prospect.

But Darcy was a Jedi, and she knew where that path would lead to.

She met her other self’s eyes.

“No,” she said, and her voice was full of conviction.

Fulmineus sighed.

“What a pity,” she said, and her hand went to her lightsaber. Darcy immersed herself in the Force, ready to move –

And an alarm began blaring loudly somewhere overhead.

“What _now?_ ” Fulmineus demanded, turning away from them, towards the open doorway.

That was when Romanov struck.

Romanov leapt up, in an impressive feat for a non-Force sensitive, and wrapped her hands and legs around Fulmineus’ neck. Fulmineus toppled over at the sudden weight on her shoulders, and Romanov leapt free at the last moment.

Fulmineus rolled as she hit the ground, onto her back, and raised a hand, ready to throw Romanov backwards using the Force, and Darcy used the Sith’s moment of distraction to her advantage. She put out a hand, and tugged with the Force.

Fulmineus’ lightsaber flew off her belt and shot across the room to land in Darcy’s hand. The weapon felt dark, tainted, but Darcy thumbed the activation switch anyway.

Fulmineus went suddenly still at the sound, her head turning in Darcy’s direction, and Romanov was on her again, hands closing around Fulmineus’s throat.

Fulmineus’ attention returned to Romanov immediately, but before she could throw her off, Barton darted forward, his boot connecting with the side of Fulmineus’ head.

Fulmineus went suddenly limp.

“You know how to use that thing?” Barton asked, looking at Darcy as Romanov climbed to her feet.

Darcy made a face.

“It stinks of the Dark Side, but yeah, I do.”

“Good,” said Romanov, and strode out the door into the outside corridor. The alarms were still blaring, and as they headed down the hallway, they heard the distinctive whine of the Iron Man repulsors firing.

The three of them started to follow the noise, but Darcy paused suddenly by a closed door, the Force telling her that it was important to open it. Without stopping to wonder why, Darcy pressed the button on the door panel, and the door slid open.

Inside was a young woman, who looked confused by Darcy’s sudden appearance.

“Hey there,” said Darcy. “You want to blow this popsicle joint? By which I mean escape,” she added, at the woman’s look of confusion.

“Where did you get that?” the woman asked, gazing at Fulmineus’ lightsaber with a look of dread.

“Stole it off Fulmineus,” Darcy said succinctly. “I don’t have my own lightsaber, so this will have to do.”

The woman’s expression cleared.

“You’re a Jedi?”

“Pretty much,” said Darcy.

“Darcy, where are you?” Romanov’s voice shouted.

“Come on, we have to go,” said Darcy, and the young woman nodded.

“Of course,” she said, and followed Darcy back out into the corridor.

Romanov was waiting there.

“This way,” she said, and turned and ran. Darcy and the young woman she’d rescued ran after her.

“They left my ship in the docking bay when they captured me,” the young woman said, as they rounded the corner. “If we can – what’s _that?_ ”

Tony was firing repulsors at the nearest stormtroopers, who went over like a set of skittles. Meanwhile Captain America was dodging blaster fire to ding stormtroopers with his shield.

“Is that a droid?” asked the woman, looking amazed by Iron Man.

“It’s a kind of armour,” Darcy said. “My friend is wearing it.”

“Romanov, Lewis, nice of you to join us,” said Tony, firing his repulsors at even more stormtroopers. “Where’s Barton?”

“Here,” said Barton, reappearing with his bow in his hand and quiver full of arrows slung over his shoulder. He was holding a couple of knives, which he tossed in Romanov’s direction. “Catch.”

She caught them easily, and slid them back into the sheaths hidden in her tactical suit.

“You were saying about your ship?” she asked the young woman by Darcy’s side.

The young woman blinked, but said, “If we can get to the docking bay, to my ship, I can fly us out of here. Are you with the Rebel Alliance?”

“Not exactly,” said Romanov. “But believe me, we want to get off this thing as much as you do.”

“How do we get to the docking bay?” asked Tony, before moving forward to deal with more stormtroopers. They just kept coming.

The young woman shook her head helplessly, clearly having no more idea than any of the Avengers.

“Leave it to me,” said Darcy, and strode forward, activating Fulmineus’ lightsaber as she did so. The stormtroopers tried to shoot her as she moved forward, but Darcy deflected the blaster bolts that came her way and continued walking forward without pause.

The stormtroopers tried to retreat, but Darcy grabbed the nearest one with her free hand, and said, “You will lead me to the docking bay,” with the Force infusing her voice.

“I will lead you to the docking bay,” echoed the stormtrooper in a dull monotone, and headed forward the way Darcy had come. Darcy followed him, blocking blaster bolts with her stolen lightsaber.

“This way!” she called to the others. “And Tony, don’t shoot this guy! He’s taking us to the docking bay.”

“Did you just use the Jedi mind trick?” asked Barton, as the others joined her, retreating back the way they’d come.

“What’s a Jedi mind trick?” asked Captain America.

“We are _so_ showing you the movies when we get home,” Tony said.

“You tricked his mind?” The woman Darcy had rescued looked like she didn’t know whether to be impressed or alarmed.

“It only works on the weak-minded,” Darcy said as they followed the stormtrooper. “Damn it,” she added, as another group of stormtroopers rounded the corner.

It didn’t take long for Tony, Captain America and Darcy to deal with them, and then they were on their way, heading for the docking bay once again. The situation was repeated several times more, until the small group emerged into an enormous room that opened onto empty space at one end. It was filled with ships.

There was a shout of alarm as someone spotted Darcy and the Avengers, and stormtroopers began running in their direction. Darcy knew they didn’t have long.

“You will leave us alone and get out of the way,” Darcy told the stormtrooper who had led them there.

He repeated her words, and did as he was told.

“Which is your ship?” asked Tony. The young woman Darcy had rescued scanned the room, before suddenly pointing.

“There! The Corellian freighter, near the far wall.”

“Then let’s go,” said Captain America, and the group began to run.

They reached the freighter before the stormtroopers could catch up with them, dodging blaster fire as they went. The lot of them clambered up the ramp and into the ship. Darcy deactivated her stolen lightsaber and followed the pilot into the cockpit.

“You know how to use the weapons array?” asked the young woman as she sat in the pilot’s chair and began flipping switches.

“Kind of,” Darcy said.

“Do any of your friends know how to?” the woman asked.

“Nope.”

“Then let’s hope ‘kind of’ is enough,” the woman said grimly. “Down the corridor outside and to your left.”

Darcy followed the woman’s instructions, and found a chair and a set of weapon’s controls. She took a seat, putting on the headset in front of her, and gingerly gripped the firing controls.

“Everyone hold on!” The voice of the young woman came through a set of speakers. “Jedi, can you hear me?”

“Loud and clear,” Darcy said into the headset.

“Good,” said the young woman, and then the ship was moving, and Darcy had no time to do anything but immerse herself in the Force, and begin firing.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six**

Stormtroopers and several of the ships docked in the docking bay began firing at the freighter Darcy and the Avengers were aboard. Darcy started shooting back, as the freighter rose into the air, and headed for the emptiness of space.

“Hold onto your butts!” yelled the young woman Darcy had rescued. “We’re going to use the hyperdrive!”

“From inside the docking bay?” Darcy yelled back, even as she swivelled her chair to more easily shoot down a crowd of stormtroopers.

The next moment, everything outside the window Darcy was looking through blurred as they entered hyperspace. Then they were out in normal, empty space, and there were no other ships anywhere in sight.

“There’s probably a tracking beacon somewhere on this ship,” said the young woman. “Jedi, can you find it?”

“I’ll do my best,” said Darcy. “My name’s Darcy, by the way.”

“Raina,” the young woman said in reply. “If you’ll excuse me, I have a ship to pilot.”

Darcy got to her feet and stretched, before closing her eyes and reaching out with the Force. Somewhere on the ship, there was probably a tracking beacon… small, electronic, giving off a signal…

_There_.

Darcy opened her eyes, and jogged down the corridor, into the room where Avengers were sitting. Romanov was examining Captain America’s side – apparently he’d gotten hit by blaster fire at some point – while Tony had taken off his helmet. He glanced up as Darcy walked in.

“Any idea where the tracking beacon is?” he asked.

“Yup,” Darcy said, and pulled up a section of the floor and began feeling around. Where was it…

“Ah-ha!” she exclaimed as she felt it beneath her fingers. Making a fist, Darcy crushed the device using the Force.

“That’s that thing gone,” she said, and looked to the others. “Everyone okay?”

Although they felt tired, and Captain America was radiating pain now that the adrenaline had worn off, no one felt seriously injured.

“We’re fine, but Cap got shot,” said Barton, glancing at Captain America.

“I’ll see if Raina has a first-aid kit here somewhere,” Darcy said, and jogged back to the cockpit.

It turned out that Raina did have a first-aid kit, and Darcy got it out, and carefully cleaned off and swabbed Captain America’s blaster burn, covering it with an adhesive bandage.

She found herself yawning, suddenly exhausted. She sank into a chair.

“Darcy?” Tony looked at her in concern. Darcy shook her head.

“I’m just tired,” she said. “Let me know when we reach wherever we’re going.”

“Sure,” said Tony, and Darcy closed her eyes, and fell into a meditative trance. The Force still felt _wrong_ – everything but the Avengers did – but at least it was _there_.

Darcy frowned a little. It felt like the wrongness in the Force was trying to tell her something, but she couldn’t work out what.

It felt like no time had passed at all when Romanov gently touched Darcy’s arm, and said, “We’re here.”

Darcy nodded, and got to her feet, stretching as she did.

Darcy joined the others as they left the ship, emerging into a large hangar where plenty of other ships were parked.

A young man was sprinting towards them, and the other Avengers tensed, but the young man was radiating joy and relief, and Darcy watched as Raina ran to meet him. The two hugged.

“Raina! We thought you’d been taken by the Imperials,” he said, his face wreathed in a smile.

“I was!” Raina said, and stepped back to jerk a thumb at Darcy and the Avengers. “This lot helped me escape.”

“Then we owe them a debt,” said the young man, turning to face the Avengers. He inclined his head, and Darcy bowed a little.

“No problem,” she said. “We were kind of looking to escape too, but we didn’t have a ship. It was an equal effort.”

“You have to tell me who you all are, and how you ended up on the Conqueror,” said Raina, smiling at Darcy. “And how you managed to steal Fulmineus’ lightsaber.”

“What?” asked Raina’s friend sharply, and looked at Darcy, taking in the lightsaber for the first time.

Darcy shrugged.

“Romanov distracted her, and I took advantage of the distraction. No big.”

“Romanov?” Raina repeated.

“I’m Natasha Romanov,” said Romanov, with a wide, practiced smile that was unlike her usual tiny one. Darcy knew instantly that it was for show. “This is Clint Barton, Captain Steve Rogers, and Tony Stark.” She gestured to each of them in turn. “And this is Darcy Lewis.”

“Darcy and I introduced ourselves already,” Raina said with a nod. “Raina Darkwater. Thank  you all for getting me out of there. I never could have done it alone.”

“You’re welcome,” said Romanov. She looked around. “Where are we?”

“You’re at the Alliance base,” said Raina’s friend. “I’m sorry, but we can’t tell you more until you’ve been given clearance.” He sounded apologetic.

“But Riggs –” Raina began to argue. Darcy stopped paying attention, as she felt a very familiar presence approaching.

She turned, and across the other side of the hangar was a bearded figure, wearing Jedi robes. He was older than the last time Darcy had seen him – than Darcy remembered seeing him, rather – and the beard was new, but he was still unmistakeable.

Feeling a rush of bittersweet emotion, Darcy went to meet him, leaving the others behind. She tried to tell herself that she didn’t even know the man, but it didn’t matter. She remembered him, and that was enough.

“Master Skywalker,” she said, and bowed respectfully.

Master Luke was looking at her like he didn’t understand what he was seeing.

“You’re Fulmineus, but… not,” he murmured, staring at her. “How is that possible?”

“My friends and I are from another universe,” said Darcy. “I know it sounds impossible, but where we come from, this kind of thing happens more often than you’d think.”

Master Luke’s gaze drifted towards Darcy’s stolen lightsaber.

“That isn’t yours.”

“I stole it,” Darcy agreed. Master Luke frowned.

“Fulmineus will come looking for it. And you.”

“I know,” said Darcy. “She’ll try and track my presence. I can’t stay here, or I’ll compromise the entire Alliance.”

Master Luke’s frown deepened.

“Who trained you?” he asked abruptly, still looking at Darcy strangely.

Darcy allowed herself a brief grin.

“In a sense, you did.” Her grin faded. “It’s complicated, but I ended up with the memories of a version of me who you’d trained as a Jedi. Same as how earlier today, I met a version of me who was trained as a Sith. Her real name is probably Darcy Lewis, by the way. Just in case that helps.”

“It may,” said Master Luke. “Fulmineus’ history is a mystery to us. She appeared at the same time as Vader killed the previous Emperor and took the throne.”

“Emperor Palpatine, right?” Darcy guessed. Master Luke inclined his head in confirmation, but his eyes shifted to something behind Darcy.

“Now there’s a guy who was fugly,” said Tony’s voice, from right behind Darcy. She didn’t jump, having felt his approach. “Darcy, who’s this?”

“Tony, meet Jedi Master Luke Skywalker,” Darcy told him. “Master Skywalker, this is Tony Stark. Try not to be offended by anything he says.”

“I am hurt, _hurt,_ Lewis, by the insinuation that I am anything less than a bastion of tact and diplomacy.” Tony put a hand over the arc reactor to emphasise his words.

“Are we talking about another Tony Stark?” Captain America asked dryly, as the rest of the Avengers walked over, Raina and her friend following the small group.

“You wouldn’t know tact if it bit you,” said Barton.

“Neither would you,” said Romanov.

“Yeah, but at least I admit it.”

Master Luke was watching them banter, a serious look on his face, but with the slight tugging of a barely-formed smile at the corners of his mouth, and a feeling of amusement in the Force. Darcy smiled at him.

“Yeah, they’re kind of amusing,” she said. “You wouldn’t know they were my planet’s premier strike force against evil.”

Master Luke’s eyes lingered on Tony, and on Romanov.

“Actually, I wouldn’t be surprised,” he said. “All of your friends have a great sense of purpose.”

Darcy glanced back at Tony and Romanov, because she could guess what he was sensing: the thread of darkness in Tony alongside his determination to do whatever it took to do what he believed was the right thing, and Romanov’s own, deeply ruthless and pragmatic nature.

“Right here, you know,” said Tony. “You’re really Luke Skywalker? Jedi Master? Tatooine escapee and son of–”

“Anakin Skywalker?” Master Luke cut in easily, but with a certain tension around his shoulders. He looked Tony right in the eye.

“Sure,” said Tony. “That’s exactly what I was going to say. Anakin Skywalker. Jedi Knight. Shame about what happened to him.”

Master Luke’s eyes were filled with sadness as he said, “Yes. It was.”

Barton shifted uneasily. Romanov maintained a blank expression, but radiated a certain amount of discomfort in the Force.

“Oh my God, Tony, you’re like a bantha in a china shop,” Darcy said, with a flicker of irritation. “Do you have to trample over _everyone’s_ sore points?”

Tony paused to consider the question.

“The evidence so far says yes,” he said thoughtfully, and Darcy gave him a slight shove.

“I hate to interrupt,” said Raina, regarding the others with curiosity, “but I have vital information that I should probably give to High Command.”

Master Luke tilted his head slightly, as though listening to something only he could hear.

“General Organa is currently in the mess hall. She should have finished her meal by the time you get there,” he said. “I suggest approaching her first.”

Raina looked a little disconcerted.

“Thank you, sir.”

“You guys go with her, let the Alliance know you’re here,” said Darcy. “I need to talk to Master Skywalker.”

“Are you sure?” Captain America frowned. Darcy gave him a look.

“I’ll be fine,” she said.

So the others followed Raina off to see General Organa (and to be honest, Darcy was a little disappointed that she wouldn’t get to meet the legendary princess herself), while Master Luke turned to Darcy and said, “Why don’t we go to my quarters and talk? No one will interrupt us there.”

Darcy shrugged and said, “Okay.”

* * *

Master Luke’s quarters were reasonably spacious by Darcy standards – although probably tiny by Tony Stark standards – and sparsely furnished. Darcy took a seat as Master Luke made a pot of tea for them both. Darcy had memories of drinking Master Luke’s tea before. It was a fragrant infusion imported from Tatooine – one of the planet’s _legal_ exports – and the other Darcy had known it as one of Master Luke’s few indulgences. Working with the Rebel Alliance, it was no doubt difficult for Master Luke to get hold of this particular tea, and Darcy felt honoured that he was sharing some of it with her.

Master Luke carried a battered-looking tray with the pot of tea and two tiny cups over to the table.

“Please, help yourself to a cup,” he offered, pouring tea into both cups.

“Thank you.” Darcy picked up the nearest cup and took a sip, closing her eyes as it triggered a wave of memories.

When she opened her eyes, Master Luke’s expression was somewhere between curious and rueful.

“You know me, but I don’t know you,” he said.

“I know, it’s awkward,” said Darcy. “I mean, technically, this is the first time I’ve even met you. But I know you, all the same.”

“Tell me,” said Master Luke.

So Darcy told him all about Jane and Tony’s portal experiment gone wrong and the consequences, and about her long months of training herself to become a Jedi, using nothing more than her other self’s memories.

“Well, that’s still more training than I had, really,” said Master Luke wryly, and Darcy went on to explain about the security breach at the Tower, and how the woman in the flowing dress had somehow catapulted them into this reality.

Master Luke listened intently as Darcy told him how everything in the Force felt _wrong_ ever since that had happened, apart from the Avengers.

“It sounds to me like the Force is trying to tell you something,” he observed. “If the only thing that doesn’t feel wrong is your friends, what does that mean?”

“I don’t know,” Darcy said, trying to calm her frustration. “It’s like we’re the only real things in the world–” and she stopped, staring at Master Luke.

He was smiling at her like a proud parent.

“ _No_ ,” said Darcy, but it was the only explanation that really made sense. “This is… some kind of illusion? _All_ of it?”

“What do your senses tell you?” asked Master Luke gently.

Darcy closed her eyes, reaching out with the Force. The wrongness was still there, all around her, only the Avengers’ presence in the Force feeling right and true. Now that Darcy understood what was going on, it was easy to see what the Force was trying to tell her.

“We’re trapped in something that isn’t real,” said Darcy. She looked at Master Luke. “Which includes you. So why are you helping me?”

“This illusion was drawn from your memories,” said Master Luke. “And your greatest fears. But for you, at least, your fears are intimately intertwined with what bolsters you.”

“You’re talking about the Force,” said Darcy slowly. “The Jedi and the Sith. Two sides of the same coin.”

“Exactly,” said Master Luke. “Your fears are present in this illusion, but so are the things that give you strength and guidance.”

“That doesn’t explain why you’re helping me,” Darcy insisted.

Master Luke gave a sad smile.

“When have I ever, in your memories, been anything but a positive presence in your life?”

Darcy didn’t know what to say to that.

“How do I escape the illusion?” she asked eventually.

This time Master Luke’s smile was knowing.

“You already know the answer to that.”

Darcy sipped her cup of tea, and reflected that even in an illusion, it was just like Master Luke to be annoyingly right.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven**

With Master Luke’s help, Darcy snuck back into the Alliance’s hangar without anyone questioning her presence there.

“You’ll need to hurry,” he said, as they headed towards a lone X-Wing parked in one corner of the hangar. “Your friends are coming.”

Darcy knew he was right.

“Good luck,” Master Luke added, a softness around his eyes.

Darcy knew he was nothing more than an illusion, but she couldn’t help herself from throwing her arms around him in a hug. After a startled moment, Master Luke hugged back.

“Go,” he said, just as Darcy caught sight of the Avengers entering the other end of the hangar.

She clambered up into the X-Wing as Master Luke took a ready stance in front of the ship.

“Darcy!” Tony called out, but Darcy was already closing the cockpit and slipping on the helmet that had been sitting on the dashboard. She started turning on switches, powering up the spacecraft and checking that all systems were green.

Then she took off, before the Avengers could reach the ship, and shot out of the hangar.

A moment later, she made the jump to hyperspace, having programmed in the coordinates she’d glanced at earlier when Raina was getting them away from the Imperials.

Darcy came out of hyperspace to see a Star Destroyer hanging suspended in space before her. It was huge.

Darcy’s comm light flashed, and Darcy turned her comm on.

“Unidentified vessel, please identify,” a voice crackled.

“This is Darcy Lewis,” she said. “I’m here to talk to Darth Fulmineus.”

There was a moment’s silence.

“Land in the docking bay. Then we’ll talk.”

It was Fulmineus’ voice, filled with staticky rage that radiated through the Force. But it wasn’t real, and Darcy could feel that, now.

Instead of answering, Darcy flew her ship towards the hulking great Star Destroyer, and flew into the opening of the docking bay. She landed the X-Wing in the centre of the docking bay, and took off her helmet.

Stormtroopers surrounded the X-Wing as she opened the cockpit.

“Come with us,” said one of the stormtroopers. “Lord Fulmineus’ orders.”

Darcy jumped down, landing in a crouch before straightening.

“Lead the way.”

The stormtroopers formed a guard around her and began moving. Darcy moved with them, back into the maze of corridors, before coming out on the Star Destroyer bridge, where Imperial officers and technicians were busily working.

“You’re dismissed,” said Fulmineus, and the stormtroopers nodded and left.

Darcy was aware of the eyes trained on the two of them, even though no one was stupid enough to be caught looking at them directly.

Darcy unclipped the lightsaber from her belt, and held it out.

“This is yours,” she said. It flew out of her hand, landing in Fulmineus’ own hand, where it was immediately activated.

Darcy stood still and calm as the Sith circled her, red blade in hand. So this was her deepest fear, Darcy thought. Now that Darcy knew that Fulmineus wasn’t real, she was able to look at her more objectively.

Yes, this was what Darcy could become, if she turned to the Dark Side. But fear, and anger, and false pride… Darcy was getting better at dealing with those emotions. She would never be like Fulmineus, who gave them free reign.

“What foolish notion made you return?” Fulmineus asked. “Did you think better of my offer?”

“Never,” said Darcy, and couldn’t resist adding, “I am a Jedi, like my master before me.”

“Idiot,” said Fulmineus. “I am a Dark Lord of the Sith, and you return to face me, knowing that you have no defence against me? Aren’t you afraid?”

“No,” said Darcy. She took a deep breath. “I was, but… there is nothing to fear but fear itself. Fear is the mind-killer, the little death that leads to total obliteration.”

Fulmineus cocked her head, as though puzzled by Darcy.

“Tell me one thing,” she said, raising her lightsaber. “Why did you come back?”

“Because you’re not real,” said Darcy. “And never will be.”

And Darcy stepped forward, and closed her eyes as the humming red blade came down.

* * *

Darcy opened her eyes, feeling a little groggy, already tensing, but the Force told her that there was nothing to fear.

Darcy looked up to see the red-haired woman in the flowing dress standing nearby, smiling slightly.

“You did well,” said the sorceress. Darcy sat up, and looked around the lobby.

She and the Avengers were the only ones there, apart from the sorceress. The Avengers were all lying sprawled where they’d fallen, to all intents and purposes fast asleep.

“When will they wake up?” Darcy asked.

“Oh, eventually,” said the red-headed sorceress. “They’ll take a little longer than you did, of course, because the dream was tied to you, but they’ll be fine.”

“Who _are_ you?” Darcy asked, still sitting on the floor.

The sorceress smiled.

“Call me Circe.”

“Okay, Circe. What was the point of all that?”

“A test,” said Circe. “One which you, at least, passed with flying colours.”

“And the others?”

Circe shrugged.

“Passed, more or less, although Captain America could listen to his teammates a little better.”

“Why involve me?” Darcy asked. “I mean, I’m not an Avenger.”

Circe’s smile was enigmatic.

“No. But your destiny is just as important.”

Before Darcy could ask what that meant, Circe reached up to the back of her neck, and undid the necklace she was wearing. She held it out to Darcy. An enormous blue sapphire dangled from the chain, exactly the right size for a lightsaber.

“I sense that you need this more than I do,” said Circe. “Take it.”

Hesitantly, Darcy reached out to take the necklace. The moment she touched it, the Force burst into song around her. Darcy gasped a little, and looked up at Circe – only to find that the sorceress was gone.

Darcy glanced at her watch, to see that only about fifteen minutes had passed since JARVIS had alerted her to the initial security breach. She looked around for her kendo sword, and saw it lying only a few feet away.

Darcy reached out with the Force, checking on the Avengers, but they seemed to be sleeping peacefully. With a groan, Darcy stood, and stretched, and tucked the necklace Circe had given her into her pocket.

It was another five minutes before Romanov stirred, before going deliberately still.

“It’s okay,” Darcy said. “She’s gone.”

Romanov opened her eyes, and looked around warily, apparently not taking Darcy’s word for it.

“What happened?” she asked.

“It was a test – to see whether the Avengers can cut it, I think,” Darcy replied. “Apparently you all passed, although Captain America needs to listen to his teammates more.”

“But you’re not an Avenger,” said Romanov, brow wrinkling slightly.

“No, but apparently I have a ‘destiny’,” Darcy said. She had some ideas about that – including her somewhat nebulous plans to create a Jedi Order on Earth – but now didn’t feel like the right time to confide that information. “She said the others will wake up eventually.”

Romanov got to her feet, and began a sweep of the lobby. Darcy just waited for the others to wake up.

One by one, they did so, in varying degrees of confusion, and Darcy explained to each of them what had happened.

It was Tony who woke up last, and Darcy told him the same things she’d told the others.

“Damn,” said Tony. “I hate people who mess with my head.”

Darcy glanced at him sharply, sensing the dark undercurrent to his words.

“Join the club,” Barton muttered, oblivious to the sudden tension.

“Her intentions were good, I think,” Darcy said slowly, more concerned than ever about Tony’s dark streak.

Tony scoffed.

“Right, sure.”

“Anger leads to the Dark Side,” said Darcy.

“Whatever,” Tony muttered. Darcy let it slide… for now.

“There is one good thing about all this,” she said.

“What?” asked Captain America.

Darcy grinned, and pulled the gem out of her pocket, and held it up.

“I can make my lightsaber, now.”

Just then a team of police entered the lobby, and as Tony moved to deal with them, Darcy stuffed the pendant back in her pocket, and casually headed towards the elevator.

Romanov and Barton fell into step beside her.

“So,” said Romanov. “You’re a Jedi.”

“Was that part real, or was it part of the trick?” asked Barton.

“It was real,” said Darcy. “I really am a Jedi.”

She reached the elevator, and hit the ‘up’ button. The elevator doors opened smoothly, and Darcy stepped inside. Romanov and Barton followed her in. Darcy pressed the button for her floor, and waited for Romanov and Barton to speak.

“So what happened after you took off in the ship?” asked Barton. “We were arguing with Skywalker when everything went black, and then I woke up.”

Darcy looked at Barton, and Romanov, and considered what to say.

“I needed to confront my fear. So I went back to Darth Fulmineus, and let her kill me.”

Romanov went still, while Barton’s eyebrows flew up. Clearly, neither of them had expected that.

“You took an incredible risk,” said Romanov, and Darcy shook her head.

“Master Luke helped me work out that it was all an illusion and everything,” she said. “I knew what was going on, by then. Facing my Sith self was the only thing that made sense.”

“But letting her _kill_ you?” Barton looked bewildered and incredulous. “How is that logical?”

Darcy thought of _Star Wars: A New Hope_ , and remembered clearly the scene where Obi-Wan Kenobi had prepared himself for death, and gone onto the next great adventure.

“I guess it’s a Jedi thing,” she said slowly, because it was difficult to explain. “I needed to show that she had no power over me – that I didn’t fear her or death enough to become like her.”

Darcy hesitated, because she couldn’t quite find the words to explain it, to someone who didn’t understand what it was like to be a Jedi. Instead, she recited the old Jedi Code.

“ _There is no emotion, there is peace._ _There is no ignorance, there is knowledge._ _There is no passion, there is serenity._ _There is no chaos, there is harmony._ _There is no death, there is the Force.”_

“That’s just bullshit,” said Barton, and Darcy cracked a smile.

“You’re not wrong,” she admitted, “and the new Jedi Order run by Master Luke follows a different Jedi Code. But still, do you get what I’m trying to say?”

“I think I do,” said Romanov, frowning thoughtfully. “Better a clean death than the death of who you are.”

“That’s…” Not entirely wrong, Darcy had to admit. “…one way of looking at it.”

Darcy could feel through the Force that something in what she had said had resonated with Romanov, somehow, and that it had roused a mixture of old, dark memories and newer, brighter ones in Romanov’s mind. Darcy didn’t push any further than that, though, leaving Romanov her privacy.

“I don’t _want_ to die, or anything,” Darcy reassured the two Avengers, just to make sure they understood properly. “But I won’t let the fear of death stand in my way.”

Barton’s eyebrows had drawn together, but he gave a slow nod.

“I guess I see where you’re coming from,” he acknowledged.

“I hate to interrupt,” said the elevator ceiling apologetically, “but Dr Banner wishes to be briefed on what transpired in the lobby.”

Romanov sighed a little.

“Tell him I’ll be right there,” she said. “Is he in his lab?”

“He is,” JARVIS said, and Romanov hit the elevator button for the floor with Dr Banner’s lab.

“You know, you can call me Natasha,” she told Darcy, apropos of nothing, as far as Darcy could tell. “I think we know each other well enough for that.”

“Might as well call me Clint while you’re at it,” Barton added.

Darcy smiled at them both.

“Alright,” she said. “Natasha and Clint it is.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _And so ends the first story arc. Let me know if there are things you would like to see. I don't promise to put them in, but I do read and consider them!_


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight**

At the first opportunity, Darcy and Tony visited a jeweller at the heart of New York, to see about getting Darcy’s brand new lightsaber gem re-cut. According to Tony, the business had provided jewellery for the Starks for the last fifty years, and the Stark family was one of their most valued clients.

All that Darcy knew was that when Tony walked in, the forty-something year old at the counter went out the back to get a guy who looked as old as dirt, who greeted Tony with a, “Mr Stark. Finally decided to get a ring for that lady of yours, eh?”

“Oh my God, no,” Tony blanched at the thought of matrimony, even to Pepper Potts, “we are in no way ready for that, we’ve only been dating, what, about –”

“Two years?” Darcy suggested dryly.

“Not helping, Lewis. Anyway, no, definitely not here for a ring – not yet, anyway, I suppose the future can surprise even me, and if I did ever marry anyone it would be Pepper, no doubt about it. But no, Jacob, we’re actually here for a different reason.”

Tony looked at Darcy, raising his eyebrows in a way that prompted her to step forward.

“We’re here about this,” she said, pulling Circe’s pendant out of her bag and holding it up. “This needs to be removed from its setting and re-cut.”

The elderly jeweller’s eyes nearly popped out of his head at the sight, while the forty-something guy – his son, Darcy sensed – gaped unabashedly.

“My God,” said the old man prayerfully, and then – “You’d better come into the back room, and put that thing away before someone sees it and decides to rob us all.”

With that, the elderly man opened the small gate at the counter, gesturing Darcy and Tony towards the open doorway behind him.

“Mind the counter for me,” said the old man to his son, and followed Darcy and Tony through.

Once they were in the back room the jeweller picked up a eyeglass and put it to his eye, before holding out his hand expectantly. Darcy handed him the sapphire on its chain, and he examined the jewel under the magnification of the eyeglass.

“Quite flawless,” he said at last. He sounded awed. “Where on God’s earth did you get it?”

“A sorceress gave it to me,” said Darcy.

“Hmph. After aliens, I’ll believe anything,” said the jeweller. “How do you want the stone cut?”

Darcy pulled a blueprint out of her bag, which contained a careful diagram on how the gem needed to be cut.

The jeweller looked at it, and whistled.

“Well, this is a challenge,” he said. “But you’ve come to the best.” He looked carefully at the blueprint, glanced back at the enormous sapphire, and nodded. “I can do it. I’ll give it top priority. I assume you’d like the process begun today?”

“You read my mind,” said Tony. “How long will it take?”

The jeweller considered the question.

“Perhaps a week.” He saw Tony’s startled expression. “Lapidary is an _art_ , Mr Stark, and my task here is a particularly difficult one. With so little room for error, it will take time to get it right.”

“Thank you,” said Darcy. “I really appreciate it.”

“Just one question,” said the jeweller, glancing at Darcy. “What do you need this stone cut _for?_ It’s clear you don’t intend to use it as jewellery.”

Darcy reached out in the Force, trying to glean what she could of the old man and his son. She could feel that the elderly man was trustworthy; his son might be tempted by the worth of the gem, but in the end, he was an honest man, and wouldn’t fall prey to temptation. And both of them were discreet, as was necessary in any good jeweller.

So Darcy smiled, and said, “I’m building a lightsaber.”

The elderly man stared, blinking, as though wondering if he’d heard correctly. He looked from Darcy to Tony and back, searching their faces for a hint of deception.

“Well,” he said, and cleared his throat. “That’s… something, all right.” He shook his head, clearly wondering if Darcy and Tony were mad.

“So, a week?” Tony said briskly. “That’s how long it will take? When can Lewis come to pick it up?”

“A week from today – sometime in the afternoon, most likely. We can arrange payment then,” said the jeweller. He looked at Darcy. “I’ll take good care of your stone, Miss.”

“I know you will.” Darcy smiled warmly. “Thank you.”

The jeweller lost interest in them then, looking at the gem and the blueprint Darcy had given him, and Tony put a hand on Darcy’s shoulder.

“I think we’re done here,” he said, and the two of them left the store.

A week later, Darcy and Tony returned to collect the sapphire.

The jeweller had done a wonderful job, cutting the stone to the exact specifications Darcy had given him. While Tony paid the bill, Darcy slipped the stone into her bag.

Tony exchanged pleasantries with the jeweller and his son before joining Darcy, and the two of them stepped outside the store.

“So–” Tony began, but Darcy felt a warning in the Force, and spun around to face the guy who had been reaching for her bag. His startled expression was priceless.

“You’re not going to steal my bag,” Darcy said firmly.

“I’m not going to steal your bag,” the would-be thief intoned, his eyes glazing over slightly.

“You’re going to go home and rethink your life.”

“I’m going to go home and rethink my life.”

Darcy and Tony watched as the guy disappeared back into the crowds, presumably to go home and rethink his life.

“Did I ever mention how incredibly creepy it is when you do that?” Tony commented. “I’m glad you’re on the side of good, is all I’m saying. How’s the whole Jedi business going, anyway?”

Darcy thought about the question.

“It’s going pretty well,” she said. “It’s funny how the whole thing with Circe worked out – it was kind of like in the Star Wars movies, when Master Luke goes into the cave on Dagobah, you know? But I feel more… certain of myself, since then, I guess. More grounded in my identity as a Jedi.”

“So you feel like a Jedi Knight, now?” asked Tony.

Darcy smiled, glancing down at her bag.

“Almost,” she said.

* * *

Later that day, with Tony supervising to make sure she didn’t injure herself, Darcy assembled the components of her lightsaber.

She could sense Tony’s keen interest and wistful longing, but Darcy concentrated on what she was doing, because if she didn’t get this exactly right, it could all blow up in her face – literally.

When she was done, she took a deep breath, and said, “You might want to get clear of the workshop for this bit. If I’ve done this even a little bit wrong, the lightsaber might explode.”

“Are you kidding me?” Tony asked. “Like hell I’m going anywhere. This is the first lightsaber the world has ever seen, and you’re about to turn it on. I’m not going to miss out on this moment.”

“Even though everything could blow up?”

Tony waved away the question.

“Risk of doing science, kid. If I were afraid of things exploding, I never would have built the Iron Man suit. Now switch that thing on before I die of anticipation.”

Taking another deep breath, Darcy tried to maintain her sense of calm, and thumbed the activation switch.

A brilliant beam of blue light extended from the lightsaber hilt, and Darcy couldn’t help her wide smile.

“Alright then,” Tony said, after a beat of staring. “I guess it works.” His expression was a little reverent, despite the flippancy of his words.

Darcy turned the lightsaber off, and the glowing blade disappeared. She hung the hilt from the specially-designed clip on her belt, and grinned at Tony.

“ _Now_ I’m a Jedi Knight,” she said, and she and Tony high-fived.

“Celebration time,” Tony declared. “Wait, do Jedi celebrate? Somehow I can’t see the revered Jedi participating in wild parties. They seem like they’re more of a bunch of killjoys, to be honest. Not that you’re a killjoy,” he quickly added. “I implied no such thing.”

Darcy felt herself grin.

“Why don’t we get all the Avengers together, and I’ll get Jane, and have that Star Wars marathon you were talking about having?” she suggested. “Introduce Captain America to the glories of the greatest movies ever.”

“I like the way you think,” said Tony, which was how Darcy ended up in the penthouse’s home theatre room with Jane and the Avengers. The home theatre room looked like a miniature cinema (albeit an expensive one) with rows of comfortable armchairs and a giant screen to play films on.

“JARVIS, line up the original trilogy,” Tony said, settling down in the armchair next to Darcy’s. Jane was sitting in the armchair on Darcy’s other side, looking bemused, but pleased by the whole thing.

Darcy shifted, aware of her lightsaber digging into her hip, and reached down to adjust it so that she wasn’t so uncomfortable. Jane glanced over at just that moment.

“Darcy – is that a lightsaber?” Jane peered down at it, looking interested. “It’s a really good replica.”

“Um…”

“Wait, Foster doesn’t know?” Clint asked incredulously. “But you two spend all your time together!”

“Not _all_ our time,” Darcy protested weakly, as Jane said, “What don’t I know?”

“So. Awkward,” said Tony. “Time to ‘fess up, I think, Darcy.”

Darcy shifted in her chair to face Jane a little better. Jane felt confused, curious, and a little hurt, presumably by the fact that Darcy had apparently been keeping something from her. Darcy winced.

“So, uh, remember how that portal opened through me…?”

“Of course I remember,” said Jane, looking indignant, and a little guilty. “I was there.”

“Well, when it did, I was briefly connected with a version of me from a parallel universe, and ended up with a bunch of her memories,” said Darcy. “The thing is, that version of me was a Jedi Knight.”

“What?” said Dr Banner. “Guys, are you really trying to pull this same thing on Dr Foster? No offence, but it’s not exactly believable. You should have tried some story a little less outrageous.”

“Bruce, how many times do I have to tell you, it’s all true!” Tony looked frustrated.

“A Jedi Knight,” said Jane to Darcy. “You.”

“Me,” Darcy agreed.

Jane looked disbelieving. Dr Banner was looking indulgently sceptical, like he thought they were all trying to play some kind of big joke on him. Neither of them looked like they were going to take Darcy’s word for it.

So Darcy sighed, and stood, and pulled her lightsaber from her belt.

“Guys, look,” she said, and took a ready stance, and switched the lightsaber on. The blade extended, humming. Darcy went through a few basic moves, just to illustrate that it was real.

“Hey, Lewis,” said Tony, and tossed a packet of M&Ms at her. Darcy brought her lightsaber up in a flash of movement, and a second later the remaining pieces of the packet fluttered to the ground, while those M&Ms that hadn’t just been vaporised rained onto the floor.

“Oh my God,” said Jane. Her expression was one of incredulous delight. “You’re a _Jedi_.”

“That’s ridiculous,” said Dr Banner, his emotions conflicted. “Just because you have… a lightsaber… doesn’t make you a… Jedi…” He trailed off, with a sudden sense of uncertainty as he realised how his words sounded.

Natasha patted his arm.

“You’ll get used to the idea, Doc.”

Darcy switched the lightsaber off, and Clint heaved a sigh.

“That thing is badass,” he said. He radiated reluctant admiration. “Hey, so I wanted to ask. Do any of us have the Force?”

The room went suddenly silent. Everyone looked at Darcy.

_Oh boy_ , she thought, and took a long breath to think, for a moment, about how to handle this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _What do guys think - who should have the Force? I have some ideas about that already, but happy to hear your thoughts. And what do you think, is Jane Force-sensitive? Do we want to see her training with Darcy? Do you think that would suit her personality, or not?_


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _So, responses to my questions were pretty mixed, tbh. Hopefully most of you will be pleased by the direction I've decided to go in._

**Chapter Nine**

“Enough to become a Jedi, you mean?” Darcy asked, and Clint nodded.

“Yeah.”

Darcy hesitated a moment longer, before giving a grudging nod.

“Tony is by far the strongest in the Force, out of all of you. Jane is also strong in the Force, although not as strong as Tony is. Dr Banner is a little Force-sensitive, as far as I can tell, although probably not enough to learn more than a few simple things. Natasha and Clint are a little stronger, but I’m pretty sure you guys already use the Force as much as you can. The Captain doesn’t really seem to be Force-sensitive at all.”

“Tony’s strong in the Force?” Natasha seemed a little surprised.

“Have you been training him?” Jane asked. She sounded a little envious.

“I’m not really Jedi material,” Tony said dismissively, before Darcy could answer. “Too many attachments, emotions, etcetera. But it’s fine. I’d much rather be Iron Man.”

Darcy could sense the lie, but the others all seemed fooled by Tony’s words. Only Darcy could feel Tony’s longing, and the bitter feeling of not being good enough, yet again…

Darcy resolved to have a talk with Tony in private, because her reservations about training him had nothing to do with him not being _worthy_. If the basis for becoming a Jedi was someone’s achievements, Tony would more than qualify – but it wasn’t.

Being a Jedi was based on principles of letting go of your emotions and attachments, of never ever letting them rule your life. A Jedi was supposed to be serene and free of passion. And Tony was, in his own way, a passionate person – whether that passion was for saving lives and doing good, for his inventions, or for one Pepper Potts.

But then, Master Luke hadn’t been as free of passion as he should have been, either, and maybe if Tony had training, he could learn to temper his emotions, the way Master Luke had done…

“This is amazing,” said Jane, full of enthusiasm. Darcy shelved her current train of thought for later and focused on listening to Jane. “I can’t believe you’re a Jedi. If the Force is real… I wonder if that means it can be detected with the right equipment…?”

“You’re being awfully quiet,” Natasha said to Captain America.

He smiled self-deprecatingly.

“I don’t really understand what any of you are talking about,” he admitted. “I understand that a Jedi is some kind of enhanced warrior, but… what’s the Force?”

“The Force is what gives a Jedi his power,” said Clint, in a sudden clipped accent. “It’s an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us and penetrates us. It binds the galaxy together.”

Everyone looked at him.

“What?” Clint asked, in his normal accent. “So I like Star Wars. Come on, I’m not even the biggest fan here right now. Who in this room is an actual Jedi?”

“He has a point,” Jane mused.

“If you’re a Jedi,” said Dr Banner, still a little dubious, but working his way around to belief, “then you have superhuman abilities.”

Darcy nodded.

“Some,” she conceded.

“How about a demonstration?” Dr Banner asked, leaning forward and smiling a little.

Darcy shrugged, and held out a hand. One of the other packets of M&Ms sitting on the chair next to Tony shot through the air to land in Darcy’s hand. She held her hand out, and the M&Ms hung suspended in mid-air several inches above Darcy’s palm, rotating slightly.

As Dr Banner stared, the packet of M&Ms tore open, and one of the small candy-coated chocolates floated out. Darcy reached out to take it out of the air, and ate it.

“Fascinating,” said Dr Banner.

“How long did it take you to learn to do that?” Natasha asked, her expression one of curiosity as she stared at the floating M&Ms packet.

“Months,” said Darcy. “And that was with me already in the right mindset. I had all the mental training already, basically, thanks to my other self’s memories, and it still took me ages to learn how to do it.”

The M&M packet floated across the room, and came to rest back on the seat next to Tony.

“Intriguing though this all is,” Tony broke in, “we actually came here to watch some movies. You can grill Darcy on the Force later, when Cap knows enough to actually join in. JARVIS, play Episode IV.”

“Wait, just – before you play the movie, I have to ask: Darcy, is everything in Star Wars real?” Jane asked. “Darth Vader, the Empire, the Rebellion…?”

“They were all a bit before my alternate self’s time, but yeah, they were real,” Darcy replied.

Jane’s eyes were wide with amazement, but she settled down and didn’t ask anymore questions as the film began, even though she clearly wanted to.

They ended up watching all three movies, with a break in-between to order pizza for dinner. Darcy wasn’t sure what to make of the experience. She’d always loved the Star Wars movies… but now, with vivid memories of that world and the people in it, she felt like a bit of a voyeur watching what were, for the people involved, very emotional and sometimes private moments.

Watching Master Luke’s father defy the Emperor to save him was a particularly uncomfortable moment. As for the scene afterwards, where Anakin was dying as he spoke to Master Luke… well. Darcy averted her face from the screen, feeling like an intruder.

Afterwards, the others asked her questions about the Star Wars universe, and Darcy did her best to answer them. Eventually, though, she called a halt to the questions, growing tired of the whole thing. The group dispersed shortly after that, heading for their various floors.

Darcy and Jane’s rooms were both on the same floor, and they headed down in the elevator together.

“You know,” said Darcy, as they stepped out of the elevator, “you could become a Jedi. The connection with the Force is there.”

“Me, a Jedi?” Jane smiled at the notion, but shook her head. “Darcy, I’m not –”

“Not all Jedi were warriors, Jane,” Darcy interrupted. “Some were scholars, scientists… I mean, there’s always a certain amount of basic weapons training involved, but… you don’t have to be a warrior to be a Jedi, s what I’m saying.”

Jane thought about it.

“You really think I could be a Jedi?” Jane gave a small laugh, clearly charmed by the idea, but not quite believing it.

Darcy looked at her critically.

“Well, you’d need a lot of training, but… yeah. I think you could be, if you worked at it.”

Jane shook her head wonderingly.

“You know, when I was a little girl, I loved Princess Leia,” she said. “Not the hero of the story, but just as brave, just as good, you know? Better, even. I always thought she should have gotten to be a Jedi as well as Luke.”

“She didn’t want to be,” said Darcy, because that had been the source of one of Master Luke’s ongoing arguments with his sister. “Leia wasn’t the type to sit around contemplating the universe. She had things to do, people to look after. Even after Alderaan was destroyed she was a leader, and people needed her, more than ever. That didn’t change just because the Empire fell. Leia didn’t have the time to become a Jedi, even if she’d wanted to.”

“I keep forgetting that they’re real people to you,” said Jane. “Did you ever meet her?”

“A few times,” said Darcy. “She and Master Luke argued sometimes. I think they had different ideas about the roles each of them should take in the New Republic, and what their responsibilities were.”

“Master Luke?” Jane repeated, a question in her voice.

“Yeah. He was my Jedi Master.” Darcy smiled a little. “He should have been Master Skywalker, really, but he started training my other self when she was still a kid, and ‘Master Skywalker’ seemed a bit too formal. So he was always Master Luke.”

Darcy missed having him there to guide her, even though, technically, she’d never even met the man.

Jane was silent for a few moments.

“It sounds incredible,” she said finally. She sounded wistful. “You really think I could become a Jedi?”

“I do.”

Jane took a deep breath.

“I should probably say ‘I’ll think about it,’ give myself more time, but… this feels _right_. I’ll do it. I’ll train as a Jedi,” she said, and smiled brilliantly. “Where do we start?”

“Well, right now, you go to bed and get a good night’s sleep, because if you want to be a Jedi, you’re going to be up early tomorrow,” said Darcy firmly. “I know it’s the weekend, but this is going to take time, so the sooner we start training, the better.”

Jane made a slight face, but nodded.

“Okay.”

“Good,” said Darcy, and smiled. “Congratulations, you just became my first padawan. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Goodnight, Darcy.”

“Same to you,” said Darcy, and headed back to her quarters.

* * *

Training Jane became the biggest commitment in Darcy’s life. Whenever the two of them finished doing science in the labs every day, Darcy and Jane would either train with the kendo swords in the gym, or meditate in Darcy’s rooms.

Jane was physically fit thanks to her habitual visits to the gym, and she’d done some martial arts training as a child. The lightsaber training she took to surprisingly well, after a while.

The meditation was a different matter. Like many clever people, Jane’s mind ran at a mile-a-minute, always busy with something. Meditation was about ordering the mind, clearing it of extraneous thoughts until the mind was calm and still.

“Why are we doing this, again?” Jane muttered, as she sat on the floor with her legs folded, her arms resting on her knees.

“Because the mental training is even more important than the physical training,” Darcy said calmly, without opening her eyes. “Without being in tune with the Force, you cannot use it. And to be in tune with the Force you need to have a calm and open mind, empty of all other thoughts.”

“It just seems pointless.”

“It only seems that way because you’re not used to slowing down,” said Darcy. “You constantly push yourself to do more – I’ve found you asleep in the lab how many times now, because you were too focused on what you were doing to leave the lab? So many times, Jane. This is hard for you because it involves dialling back instead of pushing forward, of emptying your mind instead of filling it with stuff. And if you don’t sit your butt right back down and continue meditating, I will make you.”

There was a pause from Jane, and then she said, “How did you know I stood up? Your eyes were closed.”

“The Force told me,” said Darcy. “Now sit down and keep meditating.”

Training Jane was hard, even though Jane had the natural aptitude for it. Getting her to change her mindset was the most difficult part, Darcy thought. Had things been this tricky for Master Luke, when he’d trained her and the others?

Darcy sighed. She was sitting on her bed, thinking about whether she ought to be training Jane differently.

“This would be so much easier if there were other Jedi around I could ask for advice,” she muttered aloud, flopping back onto the bed.

“That’s true,” said a voice, at the same moment as a hugely powerful presence appeared in the Force, right by Darcy’s bed. Darcy was on her feet in an instant, lightsaber flying into her hand as she took on a ready stance.

There was a blue figure standing near Darcy’s bed, watching her with a small smile. He looked to be in his early twenties, apart from his eyes, which spoke of a wealth of experience that belonged to someone older. He was also, Darcy noted, transparent.

Darcy relaxed out of her ready stance, even as she marvelled at the sheer power the figure radiated. Where most people gave off a faint ‘glow’ in the Force, this guy _shone_.

“What the hell?” Darcy asked conversationally, because she hadn’t expected a Force ghost to come calling. And she had no idea who this guy was.

“Apparently, with no other Jedi in this universe, you need an advisor.” The Force ghost grinned, amused. “Well, the Force has provided for you.”

“Who are you?” asked Darcy, because seriously, no idea.

The Force ghost’s grin faced a little at the question.

“Look to the Force,” he said. “It will tell you.”

Grumbling about cryptic Jedi, Darcy did as she was told. She reached out with her senses, feeling the Force ghost’s Force signature. It was the most powerful Force signature she’d ever sensed, and full of light, despite a certain amount of sorrow. Somehow, it reminded Darcy a little of Master Luke, in the same way as General Organa’s Force signature did…

Darcy’s eyes flew open in shock as she got it.

“You’re a Skywalker. But the only other Jedi-trained Skywalker is…”

“Me,” agreed the Force ghost.

_Anakin Skywalker’s_ Force ghost.

Darcy felt a little faint, but calmed herself, released her emotions into the Force.

Anakin’s expression was somewhat sad.

“Think of this as part of my penance,” he said. “Saving Luke wasn’t nearly enough to make up for all the harm I caused to the galaxy. So here I am, ready to advise you.”

Darcy stared at him.

“This is definitely the weirdest thing that has ever happened to me,” she mumbled.

Anakin grinned.

“Trust me, it’s only going to get worse.”

“Not what I wanted to hear, Skywalker.”


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _So, this chapter was kinda hard to write. The first line cracks me up, though. But that might just be me..._

**Chapter Ten**

Thor returned to Earth on a Thursday.

Darcy knew this because JARVIS suddenly said, “Sir, Mr Odinsson appears to have landed on the rooftop balcony.”

Tony was in the middle of eating a bowl of cereal, but at JARVIS’ words, he picked up his bowl in one hand, still eating cereal with the other, and said through a mouthful, “Let him in, J,” and began walking out of the kitchen and over towards the rooftop balcony door.

Darcy had actually been there to try and corner Tony and have that talk she’d been planning, but given Thor’s sudden arrival, she decided that it could wait for another time.

She could _feel_ Thor. He was shining like a beacon in the Force with something that… wasn’t Force-sensitivity, but something entirely different. It was like nothing Darcy’s alternate self had ever encountered. It was bright, and active, whatever it was – some kind of energy, Darcy was pretty sure – and Darcy suspected that what she was sensing was, in a word, _magic_.

Thor wasn’t alone, either: there was a someone or a some _thing_ with him that carried the same energy. When Darcy reached out with the Force she could feel a primitive intelligence with barely-there emotions. She wondered what it belonged to.

Thor reached the rooftop balcony door before Tony did, carefully sliding open the glass door, and stepping inside. The second presence was with him. Darcy frowned in confusion, because she was pretty sure the feelings she was getting? Were coming from the large hammer Thor was holding. But it was just an inanimate object… wasn’t it?

“Stark,” Thor said in welcome, as Tony walked across to greet him. "I hope you are well."

“Thor,” Tony replied, still carrying cereal. “It’s been a while.”

Darcy felt a sudden presence at her shoulder, and didn’t need to look around to know that Anakin was there, choosing to appear to her alone.

She’d only seen Anakin the once so far, when he had first appeared to her, and she’d ended up discussing with him the troubles she was having with Jane. Anakin hadn’t actually been all that much help so far, although he’d had some suggestions from his time in the Jedi Temple that might possibly prove useful in the long run.

“So that’s a god,” said Anakin, gazing at Thor thoughtfully. “Interesting.”

Tony glanced around, frowning, apparently sensing Anakin. But Thor was already turning from Tony to greet Darcy, a smile spreading over his face.

“Lady Darcy!” he said heartily. “It is good to see you, indeed. Heimdall has told me of your new status as a knight, and tells me that you train Lady Jane in the same disciplines. Where is she?”

Darcy reached out with the Force.

“In the lab, I think,” she said. “JARVIS, can you tell her Thor’s in the penthouse?”

“Certainly, Miss Lewis.”

 But Thor frowned suddenly, and glanced around as though looking for something, raising his hammer.

“Thor?”

“I sense a spirit,” said Thor, still looking around. “Show yourself, spirit! There is no honour in haunting the living!”

“He’s not haunting me, he’s my new advisor,” Darcy told him. “Be nice. His name’s Anakin.”

Tony dropped his bowl of cereal.

Darcy caught it using the Force, and lowered it onto the nearest benchtop. Thor tracked the bowl’s progress with a surprised expression.

“ _Anakin?_ ” Tony said weakly.

“Tell you later.”

Thor stared at the cereal bowl a moment longer, before transferring his gaze back to Darcy.

“You have communicated with this spirit?”

“He was a Jedi Knight, once, but he broke their code of honour and did some bad things,” Darcy explained. “He says that advising me is his penance.”

Thor’s expression cleared.

“Ah,” he said, and finally lowered his hammer. “One of those. It is not unheard of, in Asgard, for the dead to seek absolution through good deeds in the realms of the living. I have never known it to happen in my lifetime, of course, but I have heard the tales.” Thor inclined his head. “You have my blessing, spirit.”

“Thanks,” Anakin said dryly, his expression unimpressed. If he’d been corporeal, Darcy would have elbowed him.

“Thor,” Darcy asked instead, “your hammer…”

“What of it?” Thor asked.

“Is it… _sentient?_ ”

“What?” Tony looked baffled.

Thor blinked.

“Of course. How else could Mjolnir decide who is worthy of wielding her?”

Darcy stared at the hammer. For a moment, she wondered if she’d be able to wield it, before dismissing the thought as immaterial.

There was the sudden sound of hasty footsteps, and Darcy turned, sensing Jane’s presence.

“Jane…”

But Jane came to a stop at the same moment as Thor turned, and their eyes met. For a long moment they just stared at each other.

“Jane,” said Thor, starting forward. Darcy tensed, waiting to see how Jane reacted.

It was a testament to Jane’s training that she only looked very disappointed in Thor, and asked, “Where were you?”

 “The Bifrost was destroyed, and the Nine Realms were in chaos,” Thor said, the presence of Darcy and Tony forgotten. He only had eyes for Jane. “Wars had erupted, marauding hordes were pillaging. I had to put an end to the slaughter.”

Darcy saw Jane’s face soften, just a little.

“But you were in New York,” she said. “I saw you, on TV. Why didn’t you come see me then?”

“I was fighting to protect your world. Afterwards, I needed to return Loki to Asgard, to face judgement and sentencing for his crimes. I am sorry, Jane, and I beg your forgiveness.”

Thor looked so earnest and repentant that Darcy wasn’t surprised when Jane said, “I guess you’re here now, and that’s what matters.”

She and Thor stared at each other, moving closer to one another, like two celestial bodies locked in synchronous orbit. Darcy sighed, knowing what was coming.

A moment later, Jane and Thor were kissing.

Tony surveyed the display with a look of cynicism.

“They’ve forgotten we’re here, haven’t they?” he asked.

Darcy gave a sage nod.

“Totally.”

Tony looked away from the spectacle Jane and Thor were making of themselves, and glanced around, frowning.

“Where did my cereal go? I swear I was holding it a minute ago.”

Darcy pointed silently, and watched him go.

“You’re right to be worried about him,” said Anakin, who was also watching Tony. “There is darkness in him. Worse, there is fear – a lot of it. Perhaps not for himself, but it’s there all the same. And his lack of humility is dangerous. He’s too sure of himself, too convinced of his own rightness.”

“You can sense that ego from here, huh?” Darcy muttered under her breath.

Anakin gave a nod.

“It’s familiar,” he admitted, and gave a self-deprecating smile that was only a little bitter. “That kind of overconfidence and fear aren’t a good combination.”

“You’d know,” said Darcy absently, and then realised what she’d just said. She glanced at Anakin quickly, worried that she’d offended him. But Anakin only bowed his head, and quietly said, “I would.”

Leaving Jane and Thor to their heartfelt reunion, Darcy followed Tony back over to where he was sitting, leaning against the penthouse bar, eating his cereal and watching Jane and Thor. He met Darcy’s eyes as she approached.

“What’s up, Lewis?” he asked, and his expression was impenetrable. “I get the feeling you want to talk to me about something. And can you tell _Anakin_ to show himself? I feel watched.”

To Darcy, nothing seemed to change – she could see Anakin already, of course – but Tony’s eyes widened a little, and he said, “So, blue guy. You’re Darth Vader.”

“I was,” Anakin corrected. “No longer.”

Tony slanted a challenging look towards Anakin, from under frowning eyebrows.

“Right. The whole ‘save my son from the Emperor’ redemption thing happened. You know, you’re looking pretty good for a guy who burned up on Mustafar.”

Anakin just looked at him without rising to the bait.

“Anyway, why are you here?” Tony asked. “Besides advising the Jedi Master over there? Come to tell me not to fall to the Dark Side? Not to let emotion rule me?”

Anakin smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes.

“Something like that.”

“ _Not_ something like that,” Darcy corrected, sending a glare towards Anakin. She softened her voice.

“Tony, my reservations about training you…  you can’t think it’s because you’re not worthy.”

“Of course not,” Tony scoffed, but Darcy could feel the lie.

“Don’t lie to me, Tony, I can feel when you’re being insincere.”

“Remind me not to hang around you when I’m trying to keep a secret,” Tony muttered, but Darcy didn’t pause.

“There’s nothing about you that’s wrong, or unworthy, or not good enough,” she said, and judging by what she could feel from Tony, that hit home, even though there was no sign of it on his face. “But being a Jedi is about letting go of your emotions, of never letting your attachments rule you. You care, fiercely, and nothing would ever come between you and what you care about, because you wouldn’t let it. But for a Jedi, the teachings – your connection with the Force – has to come first. I’m not saying there is no place for emotions, for caring... but you have to be able to set them aside, when you need to.”

Tony’s face was still unreadable.

“And you don’t think I can do that.”

“I think that in that way, you’re a little like Anakin,” said Darcy honestly. “Your determination to do what you think is right is one of your most admirable traits, but it’s also potentially a path to the Dark Side. Because you do what _you_ think is right, without compromise, and you’d stop at nothing to protect the people and the ideals you care about – even if the Dark Side was the only way to do it. And that’s what scares me, Tony. Because what happens when you find a situation you can’t win, and all that you have left is the Dark Side?”

Tony stared at her for a long moment. Then he said, “Train me.”

Darcy waited, sure that Tony had more to say.

She wasn’t wrong.

“You talk as though you think my finding my way to the Dark Side is inevitable,” said Tony, speaking very fast. “But what if it’s not? What if there’s a way out? Give me the tools to save myself, Lewis. When did ignorance ever protect anybody from the darkness? I mean, come on, think of the original trilogy: look at what keeping secrets did for Obi-Wan – it didn’t help Luke, it only hurt him when he was confronted with the truth.”

Darcy felt Anakin wince without even needing to look at him. But Tony went on, his eyes dark and intense.

“I know that the Dark Side is a cage,” he said. “It’s an endless spiral of anger and fear and despair that doesn’t end well for anyone. I’ve seen the movies. So help me stay on the right path, Lewis. Teach me to put my emotions aside when I need to, if that’s what it takes.”

“You’re too old,” Anakin interrupted bluntly. “I didn’t like it, but the Jedi Order refused to train anyone over a certain age for a reason. I was nine years old when the Jedi found me, and I never achieved the peace, the serenity, that all Jedi are supposed to possess. By your age, your emotions are hard-wired into you. There’s no way of teaching you to put them aside, or overcome them – only to help you deal with them better.”

Anakin’s voice was kind of bitter, and Darcy knew without needing to be told that he was thinking of the ways that the old Jedi Order had failed him – without a true understanding of the emotions that Anakin was going through, they had been unable to help him deal with them. Their only advice was that he should learn to let go of his troubles – something Anakin was patently incapable of doing. But the Jedi had all been too blind to really understand.

“Then teach me to do that,” Tony said. “I can’t learn to put my feelings aside. Fine. Teach me how to deal with them.”

“I’m a Jedi, not a therapist,” said Darcy, but slowly; because she could see Tony’s point. Ignorance never helped anyone.

The problem was, she could also see the other side. What if, trained and powerful in the ways of the Force, Tony fell to the Dark Side? This was the man who had spent three months tortured and imprisoned in a cave, only to emerge as a warrior the likes of which the world had never seen. This was the man who had built the Iron Man armour, whose ingenuity and sheer relentless determination had won the day. If he ever turned to the Dark Side, he would be fully capable of taking over the world. And Darcy feared – knew – that she wouldn’t be able to stop him, if it came to that.

Darcy took a deep breath, and resolved to meditate on the question.

“Let me think about it.”

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Jane and Thor approaching, both of them smiling. Apparently they’d worked out their issues.

“That’s all I can ask,” said Tony, and turned to greet Thor and Jane with a cheerful, “So, Thor, tell me about your hammer being sentient. How does that work?” that gave no indication of the heavy discussion he and Darcy had just been having. Jane sent him a searching look, sensing his real feelings in the Force, but joined in the discussion that followed with questions of her own.

Darcy watched him, pensively, and wondered how many masks Tony Stark wore, and if she’d really seen behind all of them.

She needed to seek guidance from the Force, as soon as possible.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _What do you guys think of this new development?_


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter Eleven**

“So if I’m too old to become a Jedi,” a voice abruptly interrupted Darcy’s meditation, “how come _Jane_ isn’t?”

Darcy was sitting on the ground on the rooftop balcony of the penthouse, enjoying the breeze as she meditated. She’d felt Tony’s presence approaching, of course, somewhere distant at the back of her mind, but it hadn’t really registered until he spoke.

Now she drew back from the endless well of the Force, and opened her eyes.

“Well, you’re older than Jane is, for one thing. But honestly, that’s something Anakin and I don’t really agree on. After all, Master Luke became a Jedi, and he didn’t start training until he was about eighteen or something. Age may present extra difficulties, maybe, but I don’t see it as like, an insurmountable obstacle.”

“Just my innate personality.” Tony’s tone was dry and mocking.

Darcy didn’t sigh, but only through great self-control.

“You know, being a dick about stuff is one of the things you’d have to unlearn,” said Darcy. “I get that it’s a defence mechanism, but it’s not one that does you any favours.”

“Excuse me?” Tony looked ready to start a fight, bristling.

Darcy pointed at him.

“That right there, that need to make everything a conflict between you and other people, is a problem.”

“I don’t _need to make everything a conflict_ –” Tony started, on the defensive.

Darcy did sigh, this time.

“Natasha told me about your initial interactions with Captain America.”

“That was completely different,” said Tony. “Besides, we worked things out eventually, didn’t we?”

“But your first response shouldn’t have been to attack him,” Darcy pointed out. “At least you only used your words to do it, well done; but words do damage as well as weapons, and if you don’t know that by now, then you should.”

“Did you seriously just congratulate me for _using my words?_ ”

Darcy raised an eyebrow. Tony stared at her.

“Obviously, you have _some_ self-control, or a lot more people would have been exploded by now,” said Darcy. “But either you don’t have nearly enough, or for some reason you’re choosing not to exercise it. Which is it?”

Tony glared at her, and didn’t answer.

“If I’m going to train you to be a Jedi, you’re going to have to listen to me,” said Darcy. “And your therapist, because you’re getting one of those. Definitely. You have so many issues you could open a library. Training as a Jedi will help, but I still think you need to see a qualified professional.”

Tony muttered something. It wasn’t complimentary, whatever it was.

“What was that?”

“Fine!” said Tony, his voice suddenly returning to normal volume. “I’ll do it _. If_ you train me. Deal?” He held out a hand.

 Darcy looked at him for a moment longer. She still wasn’t sure she was making the right decision – but the will of the Force was clear: Tony needed to be trained.

“Deal,” she said, and shook Tony’s hand firmly, before she could change her mind.

“So let me guess, we start with meditation? Learning to feel the Force, becoming aware of everything in your surroundings, right?” Tony went on without pausing. “Well, I can already do that.”

Darcy’s eyes narrowed.

“Have you been practicing on your own?”

It was the only explanation she could think of, except that it didn’t feel quite right…

“Nope. Learned how to do that in Afghanistan,” he said, his tone deliberately light. “It became kind of important to know when anyone else was around. I figured it was just, you know, normal hyper-vigilance for someone who’d been, uh, tortured and held captive in a cave for three months. But it never went away, and I found that I’d get these… gut feelings, from time to time, about people or events, especially if anyone was in danger.” Tony finally paused for a moment. “That’s the Force, right?”

“It sounds like it.” Darcy stared at him. “Okay, you still need meditation, but we’re going to go with a different focus than what Jane’s doing. Jane’s still learning how to get in touch with the Force. You, on the other hand, apparently don’t have much trouble with that, so we’re going to focus on emotional discipline instead.”

“Alright then, O Jedi Master,” said Tony. “What do I do?”

“Well, sitting down so you can meditate would be a good start…”

Pepper Potts found them there half an hour later, both sitting in a comfortable pose, their eyes closed. Darcy felt her approach, and wasn’t all that surprised when Tony said, “Hey, Pep.”

Darcy opened her eyes to see Ms Potts looking down at them, curious and vaguely amused.

“Don’t let me interrupt,” said Ms Potts. “Whatever it is you’re doing.” She sounded like she knew better than to ask.

“We’re meditating,” said Tony. “Jedi Master Lewis is going to teach me to become a Jedi Knight.”

“Really?” Ms Potts asked. “You, a Jedi?” Her voice was teasing.

“I find your lack of faith disturbing,” Tony intoned, and Darcy reached out to jab him with a finger. Tony dodged without opening his eyes.

Darcy frowned, and tried again. Tony leaned out of her way a second time.

“Hmm,” Darcy said.

“What?” Tony finally opened his eyes. “What was that? ‘Hmm?’ What does ‘hmm’ mean?”

“It means that I’m pretty sure I need to build a practice droid and a shielded helmet to test your awareness of the Force,” said Darcy, still frowning. “At this stage in your training, you shouldn’t have been able to sense me doing that.”

“Honestly, I think it was more my sense of self-preservation than the Force,” Tony quipped, but his eyes lit up. “You mean like that thing Luke practices against that shoots, what, blaster bolts at him?”

“Yeah.” Darcy frowns some more. “That thing exactly. You’ll need to borrow my lightsaber, I think – just temporarily – but you need to be tested.”

“You’re willing to lend me your lightsaber?” Tony looked delighted. “Oh frabjous day.”

“ _Temporarily_ ,” Darcy emphasised.

“You know, you showed me the blueprints, I could probably build my own–” Tony began, but Darcy held up a hand, and he stopped.

“Learn the basic skills first, build the lightsaber after,” said Darcy. “That’s how it goes.”

“You’re really teaching him to become a Jedi?” asked Ms Potts, sitting down beside them. “I know Tony told me that the Star Wars films are real, but… it seems so unbelievable. And Tony doesn’t really seem the Jedi type,” she added.

Tony pretended to take insult at this.

“Not the – I am _absolutely_ the Jedi type, Pepper, I am strong in the Force, Lewis said so, plus I use it every time I fly the Iron Man suit–”

“I _thought_ so!” Darcy felt vindicated as Tony’s words confirmed one of her suspicions. “You’re too good with flying that thing not to be using the Force.”

Tony looked caught out for a moment, then shrugged.

“Does this mean you’re going to accelerate my Jedi training?”

“Patience, padawan. Just because you have a strong connection with the Force doesn’t mean we can skip all the important stuff. Or do you want to end up like Anakin?”

“Please, having met the guy, I have to say that he is the last person in the world I want to end up like,” Tony declared with vehemence – apparently Anakin’s blunt words about Tony being too old to become a Jedi still rankled.

“Met him? Met who?” Ms Potts asked in confusion.

“Anakin Skywalker. More specifically, his Force ghost,” said Tony grumpily. “He’s a dick.”

“So are you, half the time,” Darcy pointed out. “You know, from what I remember, he built a droid and repaired a pod racer at like what, nine years old? I mean, yes, the droid was C-3PO, which maybe takes some of the shine out of that accomplishment, but still – you two kind of have a lot of common in that area. I mean, you were building robots and tinkering with mechanics from a young age, too, weren’t you?”

“Wait,” said Ms Potts. “Will someone please explain to me how Tony could have met Anakin Skywalker – that was Darth Vader’s real name, wasn’t it?” She sounded uncertain.

Pepper saw the looks she was getting from Tony and Darcy.

“It’s been a long time since I watched Star Wars. Don’t judge me. Now Tony, explain.”

So Tony explained, about meeting Anakin in the penthouse, and discovering that he was acting as Darcy’s advisor, before recounting the conversation that had taken place between the three of them.

Ms Potts frowned as Tony recounted Darcy and Anakin’s concerns about training him.

“If training Tony is such a danger, then why are you doing it?”

“It’s the will of the Force,” Darcy said with a shrug. “I don’t know why, I don’t know when, but at some point, it’s going to be important for him to have been trained. I sense it.”

“So it wasn’t really me that convinced you.” Tony looked a little disgruntled.

“Jedi, remember? The Force comes first,” Darcy reminded him. “Your arguments made me reconsider my opinion, but as always, I follow the promptings of the Force.” Darcy climbed to her feet, and stretched. “Anyway, I should get back downstairs and check on Jane. Assuming she’s not, you know, _busy_ with Thor.”

“Don’t tell me you’re jealous, Lewis,” Tony said teasingly. Darcy made a face.

“I admit that Thor is pretty cut, but he and Jane are my friends, Tony. I’m happy for them.”

Anyway, Darcy had enough on her plate between her job and her duties as a Jedi, without trying to date anyone. Besides which…

Master Luke had never forbidden romantic relationships, and approved of them, even, but there was definitely a sense that the Jedi he trained should take their relationships seriously, and that there were far more important things in the universe than sex. Being a Jedi meant a life of moderation, of simplicity.

Darcy frowned as she considered that Tony would probably never be a full Jedi, in that sense: he was a billionaire who’d never wanted for anything in his whole life (except for his time in Afghanistan), and who bought whatever he wanted on the slightest whim. Possessions were a big thing in his life, even if they didn’t take centre stage.

Darcy herself didn’t own much at all. After years of moving from tiny apartment to tiny apartment, living mostly on her scholarship and on some of the money her mother had left her, she’d culled all her superfluous possessions. Most of her important things could fit into a few of boxes – things like her laptop, her iPod, the hard drive where she backed up all her files, her collection of photo albums, her favourite books, and her mother’s jewellery.

Darcy didn’t really have anyone left in her life to be strongly attached to, either. She’d never known her father, only vaguely remembered her grandparents, and her mother – the only person Darcy had ever really been close to – had died when Darcy was barely eighteen years old. The loss still ached, although not as much as it used to.

 The most important person in Darcy’s life was Jane: her boss, close friend, and now padawan. Darcy was very, very fond of Jane – fond enough to follow her across the country to Stark Tower – but the two of them lived independent lives, despite all the time they spent together, and Darcy’s fondness for Jane, while strong, would never be enough for Darcy to jeopardise her status as a Jedi Knight. Darcy’s growing fondness for Tony could be placed into the same category.

Shaking her head a little, Darcy cleared her mind of those thoughts, and smiled at Tony and Pepper, who were now bantering with one another.

Tony would never be the same kind of Jedi she was, Darcy knew that. He was too different. But that didn’t mean that he couldn’t learn something useful, or that he couldn’t adopt elements of the Jedi philosophy and lifestyle. Darcy would just have to train him in the ways of the Jedi, and hope that Tony absorbed as much of them as he could.  
 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _ETA: So, this fic is almost over now, although I want to continue this 'verse as a series. What would you guys like to see in future fics? No promises to include anything, but I will read and consider all suggestions._


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